CPA Australia Tax News

This edition was current at the time of publication.

Improving Online Services for Agents

Registered tax and BAS agents play a vital role in our tax system. Each year, they help millions of individuals and businesses meet their tax and superannuation obligations. To do this effectively, agents rely heavily on the ATO’s digital platforms, particularly Online Services for Agents (OSfA) and its secure messaging function, Practice Mail.

When these systems work well, agents can access client information quickly, complete transactions efficiently, and communicate securely with the ATO. However, when functionality is limited or systems are slow and unreliable, agents often have little choice but to revert to less efficient channels. 

Practice Mail also presents practical challenges. Many agents report that it can be difficult to select the correct category when lodging a request, which can lead to delays or misdirected queries. In addition, the ATO does not always meet its target timeframe of responding to certain requests within 28 days, which can be a source of frustration for agents trying to resolve client issues promptly. 

Many of these concerns were highlighted in a recent review of the ATO’s registered agent phone line. Agents frequently reported that calls to the ATO were necessary because key functions were unavailable or difficult to access through OSfA. Similarly, feedback suggests that Practice Mail can be slow and unreliable.

Importantly, agents have made it clear that they prefer to self-serve wherever possible. But this only works if the digital tools available to them are reliable, responsive and fit for purpose.

To address these concerns, the Tax Ombudsman has launched a new review. The review will focus on identifying practical enhancements that allow agents to manage client affairs more efficiently.

The review is a welcome and overdue examination of a platform that is central to the functioning of the tax system.

Digital-by-default only works when the digital tools are genuinely fit for purpose. When OSfA falls short, the burden shifts back onto agents, who then must rely on phone lines, manual workarounds, or repeated follow ups.

Systemic inefficiencies in ATO digital services compound compliance costs for small businesses and their advisers. When OSfA or Practice Mail is slow, unreliable, or incomplete, the entire ecosystem suffers, from agents to taxpayers and the ATO itself.

My view is that:

• digital channels must be designed with agent workflows in mind
• system changes must be co designed with the profession
• the ATO must avoid shifting administrative burden onto agents through poorly functioning systems

I encourage members and tax practitioners to contribute their experiences. Practical examples including case studies, will help ensure the review delivers meaningful improvements for the profession. The closing date for any contribution or input is 10 April 2026. The final report is expected in August 2026. 

I welcome your thoughts. Email me.

Jenny Wong
Tax Lead
CPA Australia 

 

Guidance products simplification

To make the TPB's guidance framework clearer and easier to navigate, four existing categories will be consolidated into one, ie Guidance Statements or 'GS' for short. 

In a separate release, the TPB also announced updates to enhance practitioner privacy and data security. 

Meaning of 'right to occupy the dwelling under the deceased's will

We made a submission to the ATO’s TD 2026/D1 Income tax: deceased estates; meaning of 'right to occupy the dwelling under the deceased's will. 

We submit a beneficiary has a “right to occupy” the dwelling which is the main residence of the beneficiary which is a right that derived under the terms of the Will (with the right to occupy supplemented by the operation of the Trustee Act that are contained in all states and territories Trustee Acts nationally. 

There is no legal basis for the Commissioner to narrow the identification of a beneficiary to an individual specifically named in the will in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

Updates to Australia-Canada Tax Treaty 

The Treasurer has advised that the governments of Australia and Canada will prioritise the "modernisation" of the two countries' DTA to support investment, including for Australia's super and pension funds

 

 

ATO website updates

• Is your TPAR overdue?
• Late payment offset  
• Pillar Two updates 
• Lodgment deferral questions
• Foreign ownership register 

 

 

SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL PLANNING

Social security rates and thresholds 20 March 2026 

Indexation of various social security rates and thresholds will come into effect from 20 March 2026. Download a copy. 

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Queensland 

Advisory Training Program

21-23 April | Brisbane

In partnership with Leaders in Business, join our three-day Advisory Training Program in Brisbane. Gain practical skills in advisory, communication, and problem-solving to deliver greater client value.

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Profit for Purpose Conference 2026  

Don’t miss your chance to be part of the profit for purpose conference 2026, to be held at Rydges Melbourne. Secure your spot today.

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RULINGS AND GUIDANCE

Shell Energy Holdings: ruling updated

ATO issued an Addendum to Ruling TR 2017/1 in response to the decision in FCT v Shell Energy Holdings Australia Limited [2022] FCAFC 2. The Addendum seeks to clarify that the form of the s 40-730(4) definition allows the expression "exploration or prospecting" to include "its ordinary, natural meaning having regard to the context and history" of s 40-730(4). However, the ATO maintains the view that "exploration or prospecting" for s 40-730(4) purposes encompasses: discovering and identifying the existence, extent and nature of minerals; searching in order to discover the resource; ascertaining the size of the discovery and appraising its physical characteristics; and activities that are so incidental to, or so closely connected with, actual exploration or prospecting, as reasonably to be considered part of it.

Date of effect: retrospective.

 

Penalties for not complying with STP and super member account 

The following Draft Practice Statements were released:

• Draft PS LA 2026/D1 (Administration of penalties for failure to comply with superannuation member account reporting obligations through the member account attribute and member account transaction services);
• Draft PS LA 2026/D2 (Administration of penalties for failure to comply with Single Touch Payroll reporting obligations).

When finalised, these drafts will guide ATO staff on applying penalties for failing to report, assessing penalties for false and misleading statements, and considering remissions. Both drafts include a 4-step penalty remission process, which ATO officers must consider when making a remission decision.

 

CASES 

Mixed result for Brisbane Club on CGT exemption for pre-CGT assets 

The Federal Court held that a building constructed pursuant to a deed entered into before 20 September 1985 was exempt from CGT, but that two subleases acquired after that date were not. Firstly, the Court found that building was a separate CGT asset from the land under s 108-55(2)(a) as the deed of 8 May 1985 was the relevant "contract for the construction" and not the later building agreement. The building was therefore exempt from CGT. In contrast, the subleases were not exempt as they were granted by CML and not the developer. CGT event F1 (granting a lease) occurred when CML granted the subleases to the Club on 18 June 1986. (Brisbane Club v FCT [2026] FCA 220, Federal Court, Wheatley J, 6 March 2026.)

 

Appeals updates 

GEOCON LAND HOLDINGS CASE: The High Court has refused the Commissioner's application for special leave to appeal against the Full Federal Court decision in Geocon Land Holdings No 5 Pty Ltd v FCT [2025] FCAFC 172. The Full Federal Court found that the ART had erred in its approach to determining whether excess GST had been "passed on" by a developer to purchasers and it remitted the matter to the ART with directions that the parties be permitted to adduce further evidence on remittal.

CPG GROUP CASE: The High Court has refused the taxpayers' applications for special leave to appeal against the Full Federal Court decisions in FCT v ACN 154 520 199 Pty Ltd (in liquidation) [2025] FCAFC 146 and FCT v CPG Group Pty Ltd[2025] FCAFC 147. In these 2 separate but related cases, a majority of the Full Federal Court allowed the ATO's appeals against decisions that the GST anti-avoidance provisions in Div 165 of the GST Act did not apply to gold refining schemes. Those decisions now stand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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