Following a High Court decision last year – known as the Bamford decision – legislation has been formally enacted to provide certainty to trusts in relation to the streaming of capital gains and franked distributions (including any attached franking credits) to specific beneficiaries. The taxation of trust has been quite vague, since family trusts became popular over 30 years ago. Treasury has a great deal of work to resolve the many remaining complexities, with this interim measure solving just one of the problems. Trustees may need to notify the ATO of beneficiaries TFN’s well before lodgement of income tax returns. Uncertainty remains. Is this notification within 28 days, or of a distribution of a payment or are they same? The ATO want TFN’s for beneficiaries receiving distributions last year (i.e. before 30 June 2011) by 31 August 2011, unless they were notified when lodging 2010 income tax return or are under the age of 18 years You can assist your tax agent by ensuring that any children likely to turn 19 in the near future have a TFN. It is a cumbersome process, so we suggest that you start with an appointment at a Post Office many months before the child turns 19 years of age. As the legislation for franking credits and capital gains flowing through trusts was finalised so close to the end of the income year, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has decided to extend the time allowed for trustees to record a beneficiary’s entitlement to a franked distribution for the purpose of the new legislation for the 2010–11 income year only. The extension ends on 31 August 2011.
21st-August-2011 | 