Recent Amendments to CGT Treatment of “Earnout Rights”

On 22 February 2016, Federal Parliament passed legislation in relation to the CGT treatment of “earnout rights”. The amending Act was assented to on 25 February 2016.  The changes apply to “earnout rights” created on or after 24 April 2015. Read more

New Tax rules for Employee Share Schemes

Federal Parliament recently passed significant amendments to Tax legislation relating to Employee Share Schemes (“ESS”).  The new rules apply to ESS established after 1 July 2015 with some transitional rules applying to arrangements established before that date.

Of particular interest are the new rules that provide generous ESS concessions to employees of companies that qualify as “Start up companies”. In general terms, an employer company will qualify as “start up” if:

• the company is not listed on any approved stock exchange;
• the company is less than 10 years old;
• its “aggregated turnover” is less than $50 million; and
• the company is an Australian resident taxpayer.

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Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs) - Borrowing Rules

This update provides a summary of the conditions that must be satisfied by an SMSF when borrowing to fund the purchase of real estate (and certain other assets). Read more

Increased Super Who pays?

From 1 July 2013, the minimum compulsory superannuation guarantee rate (SG rate) rises from 9% of an employee’s ordinary time earnings to 9.25%. Read more