A clear withdrawal is not granted if an outgoing member leaves the GST group under an agreement to affect the Commissioner`s collection of an amount of indirect tax.13 Ultimately, the question is whether there remains an appropriate allocation to the courts. In McGrath & Ors, as liquidator of HIH Insurance Ltd [2009] NSWSC 1244, Justice Barrett of the Supreme Court of New South Wales considered the issue of adequacy under a tax-sharing agreement. His Honour noted: In the case of GST joint ventures, the joint venture participants will undoubtedly need an ITSA, since the participants in most joint ventures are independent companies and, therefore, the participants want to reduce their commitment to the other participants` share of indirect tax debts. It is expected that a similar approach to indirect tax liabilities will be followed. ITSAs must cover not only assessments and modified valuations, but also adjustment events (since GST returns are not valuations). As explained above, members of a GST group are jointly and severally liable for the indirect tax obligations of their representative member. However, GST returns (or business activity returns) payable for taxation periods beginning after July 1, 2010 are not jointly and severally liable if an ITSA is entered into before the GST return due date. Under an ITSA, the Group`s total indirect tax liabilities are shared among the members of the GST Group. If the allocation among members is appropriate and the other requirements of ITSA are met, the member`s liability is limited to the amount of the allowance (or contribution amount) determined in this way. We have developed a number of precedents documenting the sharing of indirect taxes and tax financing models. Like the TSA and clear withdrawal rules under the consolidation provisions, clear withdrawal does not apply to indirect tax obligations that became due before the member`s exit date.
If these indirect tax obligations are not covered by an ITSA, members who retire are jointly and severally liable for these debts even after their departure. This will be the case for all indirect tax obligations which: The Commissioner believes that simple accounting entries do not constitute payment for clear withdrawals under the consolidation provisions12 and we expect the same view to be taken with regard to clear withdrawals with regard to indirect taxes. A tax sharing agreement is an agreement that is entered into voluntarily between members of a consolidated multiple-entry (MEC) group of income tax. It acts when the main company does not pay the group`s tax debts at maturity. The participant must be satisfied that the representative will be able to finance the indirect tax obligations of the GST Group/joint venture at maturity. In the absence of UN ITFA, the representative may be required to pay all indirect tax obligations of the GST Group/Joint Venture Participant without a formal agreement with the other GST Group members/Joint Venture Participants that allows them to be reimbursed (or prepaid) by those GST Group Members/Joint Venture Participants for their share of the indirect tax payable. An ITFA may also require the agent to make payments to a member of the GST group/joint venture participant whose input tax credits reduce the amount of indirect tax in the GST group/joint venture. Like an ASD, an ITSA can only work prospectively.
In particular, a member`s standard joint and several liability for a given tax period will only be eliminated if the ITSA was completed before the representative member of the GST group was required to file the GST return with the Commissioner. Assuming that a particular group of GST has a quarterly tax period, members of that group of GST remain jointly and severally liable for indirect tax liabilities for the taxation period ending September 30, 2010 if the MITSA was closed on November 1, 2010. Hence the responsibility for the out of 30. In September 2010, the ITSA must be completed by October 28, 2010, which is the deadline for filing the BAS for this month of September. An indirect tax sharing agreement is an agreement between companies in a group of goods and services (GST) or a registered GST joint venture (members) that allows members to limit their share of the indirect tax liabilities payable by that group or joint venture. Please note that unlike TSA, where the TSA is an agreement relating to any tax liability, an ITSA is a treaty relating to any tax period during which an indirect tax liability expires. This means that the ITSA covers any tax period during which one or more indirect tax obligations are charged. The Australian GST Act was recently amended with effect from 1 July 2010 to allow members of a GST group or participants in a registered GST joint venture to enter into an indirect tax sharing agreement (ITSA). An ITSA is similar to a tax sharing agreement for consolidated income tax groups and allows group members or joint venture participants to limit their liability for indirect taxes of the GST group/joint venture, i.e. GST, fuel tax, wine allowance tax and luxury car tax (indirect tax amounts). Similarly, an ITSA will not be valid and joint and several liability will continue to exist if an ITSA is entered into for this purpose in order to interfere with the Commissioner`s collection of indirect tax amounts.14 Members of a GST group and participants in a GST joint venture are not required to enter into agreements or arrangements under which the class members/joint venture participants will seek payment of the representative member / joint venture. Venture operator at the ATO of the Group`s indirect tax debts.
Generally, an ITSA does not require GST class members/joint venture participants to make indirect tax payments to other GST group members/joint venture participants, except in the case of a clear exit payment. The proposal to introduce an ITSA under the GST stems from the Tax Commission`s report entitled Review of the Legal Framework for the Administration of the Goods and Services Tax (December 2008) (the Report). In the report, the Tax Board recommended, among other things, that members of a GST group or GST joint venture be able to enter into an indirect tax-sharing agreement.4 In Press Release No. 42 of May 12, 20095, the Government accepted this recommendation. However, it may be advisable to conclude an indirect tax financing agreement (ITFA) at the same time as an ITSA. Given the existing accounting policies relating to the financing of consolidated tax obligations for consolidated tax groups, auditors of GST groups can expect an ITFA to be completed to regulate how group members/joint venture participants receive payment of indirect tax liabilities from the GST/GST Joint Venture/TPS group by the representative member/joint venture operator to ATO finance. A tax financing agreement is an agreement that is entered into voluntarily between the members of a consolidated multiple-entry (CEM) group. The TFA provides a mechanism whereby companies in a MEC group can share responsibility for the amount of tax payable on an ongoing basis.
Currently, members who leave a GST group remain jointly and severally liable for the indirect tax obligations of the GST group attributable to each tax period in which they were members of the GST group. With a valid ITSA, a member may exempt the GST group from indirect tax obligations that are levied as part of a GST return and that are still due for the tax period in which the member leaves (the due date), provided that the amount of the contribution or a reasonable estimate of the amount of the contribution is paid before the due date. Therefore, an indirect tax financing agreement (ITFA) may allow directors of each GST/joint venture group member. The MOE indicates that the Commissioner will provide guidance on his views on an appropriate indirect tax allocation.18 Subject to the publication of these guidelines, we expect that the Commissioner`s position will be no different from the position he is an adjunct to his views on what an „appropriate allocation“ is in the context of an ASD. His views are set out in detail in Chapter 35 of the Demand Policy (which concerns ASD). The salient points, if applied under an ITSA, would be as follows: Therefore, the legislation will ensure that the indirect tax obligations of the GST groups and GST joint ventures are treated consistently with the tax liabilities of the consolidated tax groups […].
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