Newsletter
July 2010 Newsletter
Trust Income and Bamford: Tax Office View
The Tax Office has released a Decision Impact Statement outlining the Commissioner's view on the High Court's decision on a case which dealt with key elements of the tax law by which the liability of trustees and beneficiaries to tax is determined.
The case is broadly known as the Bamford decision and concerned the assessment of the (tax) net income of the Bamford Trust. In particular, the case examined the meaning of the phrases ‘income of the trust estate’ and ‘that share’.
This long-await Decision Impact Statement sets out a number of general propositions, as understood by the Tax Office, which have emerged from the High Court's decision. It covers the Tax Office's administrative treatment of tax returns for the 2009/10 and earlier income years. It also identifies a number of issues in relation to tax laws dealing with trust income which the Tax Office considers to remain unresolved.