DELAY IN EXTENDING REPORTABLE PAYMENTS TO COURIER AND CLEANING SERVICES

The legislative logjam in Federal Parliament is affecting the implementation of a wide range of tax measures, and the ATO is having to implement practical work-arounds for the measures.

In the 2017–2018 Federal Budget on 9 May 2017, the Government announced that from 1 July 2018, businesses that supply courier or cleaning services will need to report payments made to contractors if the payments are for courier or cleaning services. These payments must be reported to the ATO each year using the taxable payments annual report (TPAR). However, while legislation to implement this has been passed by the House of Representatives, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Black Economy Taskforce Measures No 1) Bill 2018 is still before the Senate at the time of writing.

In announcing its administrative treatment of this announcement, the ATO said it will not require a TPAR to be lodged during the period up until the proposed law change is passed by Parliament. Taxpayers will, however, be expected to keep sufficient business records to enable a TPAR to be prepared and lodged “as soon as is reasonably practicable after the law is enacted”.

After the new law is enacted, taxpayers will need to review their payments made to contractors from 1 July 2018 and complete and lodge a TPAR for the 2018–2019 income year.

The ATO says those taxpayers who have recorded their payments and lodged their annual report in accordance with the changes do not need to do anything more. Those taxpayers who have not recorded their payments to contractors will need to review their records and compile a summary of all payments made after 1 July 2018 and the required details for each payment.

Further extension of TPRS

Also in the 2018–2019 Federal Budget, the Government announced that from 1 July 2019, businesses that supply road freight, security, investigation, surveillance or IT services will need to report payments made to contractors if the payments are for road freight, security, investigation, or IT services. These payments must also be reported to the ATO each year using the TPAR.

The ATO notes that draft legislation for this measure has been released for public consultation, which closed on 17 August 2018. A related draft legislative instrument and draft guidance have also been released for public consultation, closing on 31 August 2018.

If you would like to know more please contact one of our accountants on 07 4639 1099 or come in and see us at 14 Russell Street Toowoomba.