The Tax Workshop is perfect for sole practitioners and small practices, offering practical, expert-led sessions designed to refresh your knowledge and keep you ahead in the ever-changing tax landscape.

The following topics will be covered in the March session:

Tax Brief

What we cover: Our Tax Brief is a review of the current tax landscape to keep you up-to-date with any changes and current news.

Superannuation – Keeping Up to Date

The superannuation sector is big – 4.1 trillion in March 2025 – and still growing so changes to policies and rules affecting the sector can have a big impact not only on individual members and their retirement benefits accumulating in a tax concessional environment but also on the wider economy and the financial system.

Many changes to make the system fairer and to address the wealth inequality that has been created – and to limit the cost to taxpayers of providing the generous tax concessions – have been implemented in the last decade. Some of these changes have since been adjusted, modified or extended. The changes are typically announced with an assurance that the majority of Australians will not be affected. The adjustments, modifications and extensions are on-going.

In this session we consider some of the more recent, or proposed, significant changes including:

• The (proposed) Div 296 tax which imposes a tax at a rate of 15 per cent for superannuation earnings corresponding to 
  the percentage of an individual’s superannuation balance that exceeds $3 million for an income year commencing in 
  2025–26
• The non-arms’ length expenditure (NALE) rule for SMSFs
• Extension of the downsizer contribution concession to 55-year-olds
• Implementation of Payday super from 1 July 2026 – employers to pay their employees’ super at the same time as their salaries and wages.

Other changes considered include:

• Changes to the treatment of the transfer balance cap for successor funds
• Exercise of the Commissioner’s remedial power to ensure that persons aged 67 to 75 who are an employee under the 
  extended meaning in the SIS Act can meet the ‘work test’ for personal contributions
• The Commissioner’s clarification of when a payment by a trustee to a fund to establish and build a risk reserve is 
  deductible
• Further clarification on the employee / contractor distinction for the purposes of the Superannuation Guarantee 
  obligation

Property Development and Income Tax

‘Property development’ covers a wide range of activities from the small one-off project to the large-scale multi-stage, multi-million dollar project that takes many years to completion.

The income tax consequences of incurring costs on, and deriving revenue or profit from, the development will depend on the nature and scope of the developer’s activity – i.e. a one-off realisation of an asset or the carrying on of a business.

This session is designed to provide readers with guidance on:

• The significance of the taxpayer’s intention in relation to the development for certain provisions of the Tax law and 
• How it differs from purpose and motive
• The meaning of profit-making undertaking by reference to the Commissioner’s ruling TR 92/3
• The circumstances in which property is held as trading stock, a CGT asset or as a revenue asset
• The circumstances in which a taxpayer is likely to be carrying on a business of property development
• The CGT implications of starting to hold as trading stock land which is already owned
• How development costs in an isolated transaction should be dealt with for tax purposes
• The sort of costs for which a deduction may be available under the provision of last resort, s. 40-880
• The circumstances in which holding costs of vacant land will be denied.

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.