Information about the Inquiry

Inquiry into Tax Laws Amendment (2010 Measures No. 2) Bill 2010

Information about the Inquiry

On 18 March 2010 the Senate referred the Tax Laws Amendment (2010 Measures No. 2) Bill 2010 for inquiry and report.

The bill contains six schedules that will amend various taxation laws to improve the integrity and operation of the tax system by:
• amending the non-commercial loan provisions to ensure they operate in accordance with their original policy intent;
• extending the tax file number withholding arrangements to closely held trusts, including family trusts to facilitate data matching and enhance compliance;
• exempting Higher Education Contribution Scheme-Higher Education Loan Programme (HECS-HELP)benefits from income tax;
• updating the list of deductible gift recipients to include the Sichuan Earthquake Surviving Children's Fund and the Bali Peace Park Association and extends the period for which the Yachad Accelerated Learning Project Limited may collect deductible gifts;
• providing income tax exempt status to the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute Limited for a period of four years; and
• repealing over 100 provisions spread throughout the various tax acts that provide the Commissioner with an unlimited period in which to amend a taxpayer's assessment.

In referring the bill for inquiry, the Senate has asked that the committee ensure no unintended consequences will arise from passage of the bill, particularly as a result of the amendments contained in Schedule 1.

Submissions should be received by 16 April 2010. The reporting date is 11 May 2010.

The Committee is seeking written submissions from interested individuals and organisations preferably in electronic form submitted online or sent by email to economics.sen@aph.gov.au as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.

Alternatively, written submissions may be sent to:

Department of the Senate
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Notes to help you prepare your submission are available from the website at https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm. Alternatively, the Committee Secretariat will be able to help you with your inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3540 or facsimile +61 2 6277 5719 or by email to economics.sen@aph.gov.au.

Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretariat.

Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential Committee document and is protected by Parliamentary Privilege. You must not release your submission without the Committee's permission. If you do, it will not be protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public and places them on its website. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.


For further information, contact:

Department of the Senate
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Phone:+61 2 6277 3540
Fax:+61 2 6277 5719
Email:economics.sen@aph.gov.au