16 October 2026

12 October 2026 to 16 October 2026 Weekly Bulletin Contents TAX MONDAY 12 OCTOBER 2026

TAX · Monday 12 October 2026

ATO extends transition period for credit cards until 30 June 2027

The ATO has advised that it will continue accepting credit card payments for tax obligations until 30 June 2027. It said that it will continue to consult with relevant stakeholders and stewardship groups to understand how best to support those experiencing financial hardship and identify alternative arrangements for businesses and individuals who are unable to pay via other methods. Taxpayers who wish to continue using a credit card to meet their tax obligations after 30 June 2027 may continue to use third-party payment providers. The ATO encourages taxpayers considering these options to carefully consider relevant fees, charges and processing timeframes. The ATO also encourages taxpayers to remain vigilant against scams and verify the credentials of any third-party providers before sharing information or making payments.

ATO: Top 3 rental property deduction errors

The ATO has advised that the most common errors it sees when it comes to rental deductions are as follows: not apportioning interest expenses correctly; incorrect claims of repairs vs capital works; not separating private use of a property. The ATO also said rental property deductions continue to be an area where many taxpayers make mistakes, leading to incorrect claims and the need for adjustments.

Tasmania: Revenue measures take effect

The Tasmanian Government has advised that the Taxation and Related Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2026 took effect on Friday 9 October 2026. The Act amends a range of legislation including for property transfer duties, land tax, and tax administration. Among other things, the amendments: dwelling threshold for developer relief is reduced from 50 to 10 relevant dwellings for both the duty surcharge and the land tax surcharge (with effect from 1 July 2026); and, allows a taxpayer to apply for a refund of tax paid (where previously the only option was to lodge a formal objection within the 60-day objection period).

TUESDAY · Tuesday 13 October 2026

TPB terminates tax agent company over client verification failures

The TPB has advised that it has terminated the registration of a tax-agent company after finding serious failures in its client identity verification and record keeping processes. The TPB found that the company had breached multiple items of the Code of Professional Conduct (Code) and no longer met the requirements for registration, prohibiting them from reapplying for a period of 3 years. The TPB found the company engaged in serious misconduct, including accessing clients' ATO information without authorisation, creating and maintaining false Proof of Identity records, and falsely claiming identity verification checks had been completed. The company also offered payments to clients on the condition they did not make complaints.

ATO: Paying with credit card – further information

The ATO has released further information about credit card payments. It includes information about: Paying the ATO; What is changing; Why this is changing; and Other ways to pay.

Miscellaneous amendments to Treasury Portfolio Laws Spring 2026

Treasury has released exposure draft materials on miscellaneous amendments to Treasury legislation to correct technical or drafting effects, remove anomalies and address unintended outcomes. The proposed measures include:
• Amendments to the Corporations Act by replacing ‘corporation’ with ‘company or body’, clarifying ambiguous language in the definition of ‘director’ in the Corporations Act;
• Amendments to s 83-15 and 83-85 of the ITAA 1997 to ensure that individuals can access tax offsets for unused annual leave and long service leave payments received due to bona fide redundancy, regardless of whether an additional payment was issued;
• Amends the Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Act 1911 to remove the requirement of a statutory declaration for the transmission of government stocks from deceased estates.

In addition, the measures propose to amend s 38-25.01(1) of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Regulations 2019 to remove the carve-out for GST-free treatment where a higher everyday living fee is charged by a supplier. Comments due by 18 October 2026.

Compensation Scheme of Last Resort - Special Levy Determination 2026

The Corporations (Financial Services Compensation Scheme of Last Resort – Special Levy) Determination 2026 has been made. Its purpose is to impose a special levy for the 2026-27 levy period to address the excess of claims, fees and costs in the financial advice sub-sector identified in the CSLR operator’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme of Last Resort Levy (Collection) (Revised Cost Estimates for 2026-27 Levy Period) Determination 2026. Note: the sum of the total amounts of special levy specified in s 6 of this instrument is $170,262,208.

WEDNESDAY · Wednesday 14 October 2026

Minimum 30% tax on discretionary trusts – Bill introduced

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 3) Bill 2026 and the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Minimum Tax on Discretionary Trusts) Bill 2026 have been introduced into Parliament this morning [Wed 14 October 2026]. They give effect to the Government’s proposals to impose a minimum 30% tax on discretionary trusts.

Specifically, the 30% minimum tax trust measures will:
• Establish a minimum 30% tax rate that will apply to the net income of discretionary trusts from 1 July 2028. The tax will be payable by the trustee, with certain beneficiaries to receive a non-refundable tax offset for the tax payable by the trustee in respect of their share of trust income. Date of effect: From the income year beginning 1 July 2028 and later income years.
• Provide roll-over relief for a period of 3 years from 1 July 2027 to support small businesses and others that wish to restructure from discretionary trusts that are within the scope of the minimum tax into another type of entity, such as a company or a fixed trust. For those who choose to restructure, the roll-over will provide relief from direct income tax consequences that would otherwise arise from transferring relevant trust assets from discretionary trusts and the related issue of membership interests in the transferee entity. Date of effect: Applicable to asset transfers occurring from 1 July 2027.
• Introduce an electable regime for certain discretionary trusts that are otherwise within the scope of the 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts. The electable regime allows trustees to nominate beneficiaries that may become presently entitled, or specifically entitled, to a specified share of income and non-income earnings of the trust estate each income year that the election is in force. If an election is made, the 30% minimum tax does not apply to the income and non-income earnings of the trust estate for each income year the election is in force where certain criteria are met, including that the trustee chooses to exercise their discretionary powers consistent with the nomination. Date of effect: The election applies to income years starting on or after 1 July 2028.

The Tax Reform No 3 Bill will also amend the tax law in respect of the previously legislated CGT and negative gearing reforms, as follows:

CGT adjustments
The amendment will clarify the operation of more specific and complex arrangements by:
• extending the application of the CGT reforms to Attribution Managed Investment Trusts (AMITs);
• clarifying the operation of the CGT reforms relating to all trusts eg by allowing trustees to choose not to apply indexation to the cost base of an asset of the trust if no beneficiaries are entitled to apply indexation;
• ensuring the loss-ordering rules do not impact complying super entities investing through trusts (including MITs and AMITs);
• providing that the apportioning method for determining consideration from realisation events happening on or after 1 July 2027 is not available in certain circumstances;
• preventing taxpayers with deferred gains or losses in relation to a CGT asset from being entitled to benefit from those losses where the CGT asset is subject to a CGT event that does not represent a substantial realisation of the asset;
• exempting capital gains arising for genuine testamentary trusts, deceased estates, special disability trusts and income of minor beneficiaries from the 30% minimum tax on capital gains; and
• ensuring that foreign residents and temporary residents making capital gains directly receive CGT discount and indexation outcomes that are pro-rated to the number of days that they are Australian residents.

Date of effect: These adjustments will apply to assessments for income year from 1 July 2027.

Negative gearing adjustments
The proposed measures will establish when a residential dwelling is a new residential dwelling for an entity – by reference to 4 cases when a residential dwelling is a new residential dwelling for an entity, including when an entity:
• acquires an ownership interest in land on which there was no residential dwelling and constructs or installs a residential dwelling on that land;
• acquires an ownership interest in land on which there is already a residential dwelling (or dwellings) and then, later, there is a greater number of residential dwellings on the same land (e.g. due to construction of additional dwellings);
• converts a building to a residential dwelling/s.
For all cases, a new residential dwelling must be located in Australia. It must also be capable of being legally occupied as a dwelling (by reference to a certificate of occupancy), and the legal interest in the new dwelling must be capable of being independently acquired by another entity.

The proposed measures will also specify entities that have an ownership interest in a residential dwelling used for an activity or purpose are exempt from the general rule to quarantine amounts from an investment in a residential dwelling. An entity can access this exemption when the residential dwelling is, among other things:
• enrolled under the rules made for the NDIS Act as a dwelling for which specialist disability accommodation can be provided;
• used to provide affordable housing;
• made available to an Australian government agency or local governing body for the sole purpose of providing public housing.

Date of effect: These adjustments will apply to the 2027-28 income year and later years.

Payday Superannuation transitional relief
Finally, the Tax Reform No 3 Bill will also provide transitional relief for individuals that receive additional contributions because of the transition to Payday Superannuation for the 2026-27 income year. Specifically, the amendments provide that, in specified circumstances, certain employer contributions relating to the June 2026 quarter are disregarded when working out concessional contributions for the 2026-27 income year. This is intended to avoid adverse impacts on individuals who may exceed their concessional contributions cap in that year solely due to the transition from the old SG framework to Payday Superannuation.

Date of effect: These Payday Superannuation amendments apply for the purposes of working out concessional contributions for the 2026-27 financial year.

Treasurer’s media release
See Treasurer’s accompanying media release, here.

SGC: Truck driver engaged as employee under extended definition

The ART has confirmed that the applicant who operates a business which provided water truck, tipper hire and similar services was liable for superannuation guarantee charge (SGC) in respect of a person they engaged to drive and operate a water truck owned by the applicant. The ART found that despite there being no written record of arrangement between parties, the facts of the case demonstrated that the driver was working under a contract with the applicant which was “wholly or principally for the labour” under the extended definition of employee in s 12(3) of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992. The ART also noted that there was no evidence of an ability of the driver to delegate, or that he actually delegated work to any person. (Kay and FCT (Taxation and business) [2026] ARTA 2310, 13 October 2026)

THURSDAY · Thursday 15 October 2026

Treasury consultation: Tackling fraud and financial abuse

Treasury has released a consultation paper entitled “Tackling fraud and financial abuse: Combating fraud in the tax system; Addressing financial abuse perpetrated through the tax, superannuation, social security, family payment and child support systems”. Treasury is seeking feedback on how best to give the ATO new powers to deal with fraud and how the ATO and the Department of Social Services could address financial abuse. The proposals in the paper include new powers to help the ATO to: collect debts from tax agents who commit fraud; pause or cancel debts for taxpayers who are victims of fraud by tax agents; issue garnishee notices to collect tax debts from jointly-held assets. Another proposal in relation to “financial abuse” include adapting any such ATO powers to collect a victim-survivor’s tax debt from a financial abuse perpetrator in certain situations. Comments due by 27 November 2026.

FBT: Taxable value of “loss of income” contributions for Vic firefighters

In a test case involving the taxable value of member contributions paid by Fire Rescue Victoria firefighters to the Victorian Branch Discretionary Trust of the United Firefighters’ Union of Australia, the Federal Court has ruled that it was 28.4% of the contributions made (contrary to the applicant’s claim that it was nil). The Court arrived at the decision on the basis that the contributions were not just premiums for the risk of a future reduction in income, but also entitled the members to make other non-deductible claims. In arriving at the appropriate percentage, the Court accepted a methodology which involved isolating net loss-of-income payments in relation to the total deductible amount against net expenditure, after excluding ordinary operating costs. (Carbery v Fire Rescue Victoria [2026] FCA 1488, 8 October 2026)

ATO: GST and donated goods

The ATO has issued a reminder that selling donated goods may be GST-free if all the following apply: the sale is made by an eligible entity (eg an endorsed charity, some gift-deductible entities, government schools); the goods are donated or gifted to the not-for-profit (NFP) organisations selling them or acquired from another eligible entity; and the donated goods have not been altered from their original character - albeit, cleaning, restoring or repairing donated goods before they are sold is fine. However, the ATO said if you transform your donation into something entirely new, it will no longer qualify as GST-free when sold.

FRIDAY · Friday 16 October 2026

Draft legislation: Crypto asset tax transparency

The Government has released draft legislation to improve tax transparency for crypto assets in accordance with the measure announced in the 2025–26 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook. The draft legislation: provides a framework to introduce the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework into Australian law; introduces a domestic crypto asset reporting regime for transactions involving Australian residents; updates the existing Common Reporting Standard. Comments due by: 28 October 2026.

Draft statement: Commissioner-initiated assessments under Payday Super

The ATO has released Draft PS LA 2026/D4 Making Commissioner-initiated assessments: section 36 of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 outlines when a Commissioner-initiated assessment can be made and the factors to consider in making this kind of assessment. It states the Commissioner can make this assessment in one of 2 ways: based on information in a voluntary disclosure statement lodged by the employer for the QE day; or on the Commissioner's own initiative (referred to in this draft Practice Statement as a Commissioner-initiated assessment). It further provides the ATO should consider the following before making a Commissioner-initiated assessment: has the employer lodged a voluntary disclosure statement?; and has the employer been informed of the ATO's intention to make a Commissioner-initiated assessment, as well as the basis upon which the SGC liability will be calculated, prior to the assessment being made? Comments due: 13 November 2026

NSW stamp duty: rollover relief for restructuring for 30% min trust tax

The NSW Government has said that, if re-elected, it will ensure discretionary trusts opting into the Federal Government’s transitional Excluded Election Trust (in relation to the new 30% minimum tax on family trusts) will pay no stamp duty. It said it will do this by establishing a state-level rollover relief scheme whereby existing regulations will be amended to make clear that the initial choice to become an Excluded Election Trust (EET) is not considered a taxable event. This it said will removes the key uncertainty about whether using the federal EET pathway will attract state taxation. The NSW government said that this regulatory change will take place after detailed consultation with key small business organisations and representatives and that it will begin after Federal Parliament finalises the legislation.

SUPER & FINANCIAL SERVICES · Monday 12 October 2026

Don’t assume an adult child with a disability qualifies as an interdependant

A recent ATO private ruling found that an adult child with lifelong severe disabilities was not in an interdependency relationship with their parent under section 302-200 of the ITAA 1997. As a result, the child was not a death benefits dependant under section 302-195. The parent’s SMSF paid a lump sum death benefit to the estate, to be held for the child. Because the child is not a dependant, the taxable component of that benefit is assessable income to the estate.

The child lived in private accommodation with 24-hour support workers. The parent, who also had serious medical conditions, lived separately but visited weekly or fortnightly. The parent also organised trips together and gave the child gifts, including a term deposit. In the ATO’s view, the relationship was no more than a normal parent and adult child relationship, and there was no evidence of a mutual commitment to a shared life.

The ruling points out that a close personal relationship is needed under every limb of the interdependency test, including the disability limb in subsection 302-200(2). It also relies on the Explanatory Statement’s view that children generally aren’t expected to be in an interdependency relationship with their parents. On that view, only unusual and exceptional circumstances will do.

Use the beneficiary’s residency to work out tax on a foreign death benefit

A recent ATO private ruling confirms how applicable fund earnings work when a foreign super fund pays a lump sum death benefit. The applicant’s spouse died as a member of two UK defined benefit funds, and both funds paid the applicant a lump sum death benefit. The ATO ruled that part of each payment is assessable as applicable fund earnings under section 305-70 of the ITAA 1997.

The ATO said the first “you” in subsections 305-75(2) and (3) refers to the death benefit recipient. Which method applies therefore depends on whether the recipient was an Australian resident for the whole period the lump sum relates to. The deceased member’s residency is not relevant. The applicant had not been a resident for the whole period, so subsection 305-75(3) applied. Several other references to “you” have to be read as the deceased member to avoid anomalous results. These are the amount vested at the start day, contributions and foreign fund transfers, and previously exempt fund earnings. Here, the amount vested in the deceased, contributions and transfers, and previously exempt fund earnings were all nil.

Each amount in pounds sterling must be translated into Australian dollars at the exchange rate on the day the lump sum is received, (see ATO ID 2015/7).

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