Summary

Amends: the Income Tax Rates Act 1986 to: bring forward, to the 2020-21 financial year, the increases to certain income tax thresholds; the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and Taxation Administration Act 1953 to bring forward, to the 2020-21 financial year, the increase in the amount of the low income tax offset to $700; the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to: retain the low and middle income tax offset for the 2020-21 financial year; enable corporate tax entities with an aggregated turnover of less than $5 billion to carry back a tax loss for the 2019-20, 2020-21 or 2021-22 financial years and apply it against tax paid in a previous financial year back to the 2018-19 financial year; and extend the concept of tax benefits in the general anti-avoidance rule in Part IVA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 to include the research and development (R&D) tax offset; the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 to provide that the income tax general anti-avoidance rule applies to schemes entered into for the purpose of obtaining a low carry back tax offset; seven Acts to enable eligible entities with an aggregated turnover of $10 million or more and less than $50 million to access certain small business entity tax concessions; Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and Tax Laws Amendment (Research and Development) Act 2015 to: permanently increase the R&D expenditure threshold from $100 million to $150 million; link the R&D tax offset for refundable R&D tax offset claimants to claimants' corporate tax rates plus an 18.5 percentage point premium; and increase the R&D tax incentive for larger R&D entities with high levels of R&D intensity; Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, Income Tax Rates Act 1986 and Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to: remake and consolidate provisions relating to clawback of R&D recoupments and feedstock adjustments; introduce a new uniform clawback rule that applies for recoupments, feedstock adjustments and balancing adjustment amounts that are included in an R&D entity's assessable income; and introduce a new catch-up rule for R&D assets; Taxation Administration Act 1953 to require the Commissioner of Taxation to publish information about the R&D activities of R&D entities claiming the R&D tax offset; Industry Research and Development Act 1986 to: provide for the Board of Innovation and Science Australia (ISA) to make a determination, by notifiable instrument, about how it will exercise its powers and perform its functions and duties; and expand the existing power of the Board of ISA and its committees to delegate some or all of their functions to include certain members of the Australian Public Service; the Industry Research and Development Decision-making Principles 2011 to impose a three-month limit on the Board of ISA's ability to grant an extension of time; Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to enable businesses with an aggregated turnover of less than $5 billion to deduct the full cost of eligible depreciating assets that are first held, and first used or installed ready for use for a taxable purpose, between the 2020 budget time and 30 June 2022; and Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to extend the time by which assets that qualify for the enhanced instant asset write-off must be first used or installed ready for use for a taxable purpose until 30 June 2021.