INDIRECT TAXATION IN AUSTRALIA—WHERE ARE WE?

Abstract

Despite some effort at tax reform in Australia, industry still has to deal with a number of indirect taxes including: goods and services tax (GST); customs and excise duties; fuel tax credits; payroll and other employment taxes; and, stamp duties.

While most of these imposts have been around for some time in one form or another, many changes have occurred in the administration of them—some under the banner of reform or streamlining, some subtle and some extensive.

This paper seeks to summarise some of the main indirect tax issues that remain to be resolved or have emerged. For example, GST, which has now been in operation for more than six years, has a number of significant interpretive issues that are yet to be finally determined. The Mining and Energy Industry Partnership Issues Register still lists ‘Supply of Going Concerns: Farm Ins and Farm Outs’ as an unresolved issue. While the main problems are not so much with the ‘going concerns’ side but rather with non-monetary consideration, and tend to be in the hard rock mining sector, there is a renewed focus from both an income tax and GST perspective that has the potential to alter some long-held positions. Managing the petroleum industry’s position through this process will be important. In the case of the Government’s much-heralded fuel tax credits scheme, which has the stated aim of reducing taxes on business inputs, the changes in the early years offer little in the way of reductions for most businesses.