CPA Australia Tax News

This edition of Tax News was current at the time of publication on 9 July 2026. You can subscribe to the Tax News email in your comms preference centre. 

What’s new Tax Time 2026 

The ATO has provided a summary of changes for Tax Time 2026 which include:

• Cents per kilometre rate increase to 91c for work-related car expenses.
• Updates to Trust Income Tax Return labels, expanded validation rules for electronic lodgments and enhanced pre-fill functionality to include trust data in myTax and tax agent software.
• Linking myGov to the ATO changes.
• Digital proof of record ownership is changing mid-June to improve security, the client experience and reduce calls.
• Individuals will see a broader range of questions and more streamlined process, with the number and type of questions depending on how they sign in.
• People who can’t complete the process online will be directed to call the ATO for a linking code.
• Additional security enhancements, including improvements to the ATO app and expanded identity document options for myID.

2026 Year-End Tax Time

Hear from SW Accountants and Advisors as they talk about the latest developments for the end of the Australian tax year. Listen now

Tax time tip: slow down and stay scam-aware

CPA Australia is urging Australians to wait until ATO information is finalised and pre-filled, and to stay alert of tax time scam emails, texts and calls. Read more.

Options paper to regulate accounting, auditing and consulting firms 

Treasury has issued an options paper entitled Regulation of accounting, auditing and consulting firms in Australia. The paper seeks feedback on options to uplift the regulation of the audit sector and potential reforms across six areas. 

Audits are mandatory for the largest companies in Australia and these companies in many cases are reliant on the specialist skills, staffing and networks of the largest multidisciplinary firms. The non-audit services provided by multidisciplinary firms are covered in the paper to the extent that they have some potential to impact audit quality.

Send your comments by 6 August to: [email protected]

TPB enforcement power and foreign resident CGT regime bill introduced

The government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Accountability for Tax Adviser Misconduct and Other Measures Bill) 2026 into the House of Reps on 2 July 2026. It will implement the following measures:

• Strengthened TPB enforcement powers: will amend the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 to include new and expanded regulatory penalty powers for the Tax Practitioners Board.
• Foreign resident CGT regime: will clarify and expand what constitutes taxable Australian real property (TARP) by inserting a statutory definition of "real property" into the ITAA 1997, as well as amending the principal asset test (PAT) and the related withholding notification scheme. See CPA Australia’s media release.
• Foreign resident CGT regime (renewables): will provide a 50% CGT discount for certain investors disposing of Australian renewable energy assets.
• Tax credits under the foreign resident capital gains withholding regime: enshrines in the TAA 1953 the existing Commissioner's Determination allowing foreign resident vendors to claim their FRCGW withholding credit in the same income year as the underlying CGT liability arises, rather than the year of settlement.

Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 2) Bill 2026

The Senate has referred the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 2) Bill 2026 to the Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry. The Bill includes loss carry back tax offset and $20,000 instant asset write-off rules. 

Send your comments by 13 July to [email protected]

ATO fuel response payment plan update

The ATO has offered a fuel response payment plan for ABN holders impacted by high fuel costs. Businesses that that have not entered into a payment plan will need to contact the ATO to negotiate a flexible payment plan. There are various support options available.

ATO website updates

• Key lodgment and payment dates for business in June
• Key lodgment and payment dates for business in July
• New TPAR pre-fill for tax time 2026
• Adjust payment plans
• Registered agent lodgment program 
• Key OSfA changes

Findings of failures to protect retirement savings

ASIC warns superannuation trustees to address failures to protect retirement savings, including gaps in the monitoring of harmful advice fee deductions, unusual fees and investment patterns, and high-risk superannuation switching activity.

ASIC also published Report 833: Safeguarding super: How well are platform trustees monitoring risks to retirement savings? which details findings from a review of six platform trustees.

Financial Reporting and Assurance Update 

15 July | 1 CPD hour 

This webinar will discuss major accounting and auditing developments, significant judgment areas, emerging risks and ASIC’s FY2026-27 focus areas. Livestream Link

Three bills passed Parliament or assented

The following bills were passed by the Federal Parliament or assented on 30 June 2026.

1. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering an Efficient and Trusted Tax System) Bill 2026 (Act no. 58) includes:
   • require beneficiary TFNs to be reported at the same time the trust tax return is lodged
   • allow a Public Trustee to approve a person to be the trustee or the director of the trustee company of the client's SMSF.
2. The government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Bill 2026 (Act no. 57) to implement a series of amendments aimed at strengthening Director ID rules, expanding ASIC powers and unwinding the Modernising Business Registers program.
3. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Reporting System Reform) Bill 2026 proposes to combine the core functions and powers of the AASB, AUASB and the FRC into a single entity: External Reporting Australia.

Withholding Variation for Certain Allowances

The ATO has registered the Taxation Administration (Withholding Variation for Payment of Certain Allowances) Amendment Legislative Instrument 2026, awaiting assent.

• Laundry expenses –The Instrument preserves the existing threshold of $150 set by the now repealed s 900-40 of the ITAA 1997.
• Award transport payments – the 2025 Instrument varies to nil the amount required to be withheld from award transport payments. 

Date of effect: The laundry expenses amendment takes effect at the same time as the 2026 Amending Act. The award transport payment removal starts no earlier than 1 October 2026.

Global and domestic minimum tax amendments

Treasury has registered the Taxation (Multinational - Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) Amendment (2026 Measures No. 2) Rules 2026. The Instrument makes amendments to the Taxation (Multinational - Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) Rules 2024.

Date of effect: Retrospective from 1 January 2024.

Bendel: ATO's administrative treatment

ATO explains its administrative treatment on FCT v Bendel (2026), including:

• if a private company beneficiary has not taken any relevant action in respect of its UPE, the ATO will not treat it as a loan under s 109D, whether or not the amount is held on a separate trust
• if parties have taken steps that result in a UPE being satisfied, replaced or otherwise dealt with in a manner giving rise to a loan within s 109D(3), the arrangement will be characterised accordingly
• the ATO may consider Subdiv EA of Div 7A or s 100A of the ITAA 1936 (trust reimbursement agreements) in appropriate circumstances.

Where arrangements involving UPEs have been implemented in accordance with TD 2022/11, those UPEs will not be treated as loans unless the parties have taken steps that result in an arrangement falling within s 109D(3). 

CGT improvement threshold for 2026-27

The CGT improvement threshold for the 2026-27 income year is $194,165 (up from $187,962 for 2025-26). The threshold is relevant for determining if an improvement to a pre-CGT asset is treated as a separate asset for CGT purposes.

GDP adjustment factor for 2026-27

The GDP adjustment factor is 5% (previously 4%) for the 2026-27 income year for working out quarterly GST and PAYG instalment amounts.

Property syndicate fees were ordinary income or PSI

A taxpayer failed to prove that fees derived from property syndicates were not his ordinary income or personal services income. The Court held that the property syndicate fees were the ordinary income of the taxpayer personally. The success of the property syndicates was substantially the result of Mr Larmar's own personal hard work, skill and expertise. 

The taxpayer represented to banks that the management fees and other fees were his own personal assets to support personal guarantee. However, this was inconsistent with the taxpayer’s claim that the fees were derived by the family trust. The Court also held that the ATO was entitled to amend the assessments at any time as the Court’s opinion that there had been evasion was lawfully formed and was not vitiated by any error of law. (Larmar v FCT [2026] FCA 826, Federal Court, Wheatley J, 26 June 2026.)

New Zealand’s tax intermediary regime confronts digital reality

Strengthening system integrity and reducing compliance barriers are among the aims of IR’s review of who can help New Zealand taxpayers manage their affairs. Here’s why professional standing matters.

Tax Information Bulletin

IR’s July 2026 Tax Information Bulletin includes the Taxation (Budget Measures) Act 2026, which received the Royal assent on 5 June 2026. 

Short hold on refunds on new bank accounts

In order to protect taxpayers from identity fraud and reduce the risk of refunds being paid to incorrect bank accounts, IR may place a short hold on refunds when new bank accounts are added. 

Strategic diesel reserve ready for use

Two refurbished tanks at Northland’s Marsden Point intended to store New Zealand’s strategic diesel supply are officially in use, after the completion and recommissioning of the tanks. It’s been over three months since up to $21.6 million from the Regional Infrastructure Fund was committed to Channel Infrastructure to increase diesel storage by 93 million litres. 

Under the agreement, Z Energy owns and manages the diesel reserve, but the Crown will control its release to the market if needed.  

Updated fuel stock information will be published on the MBIE website every Wednesday at 1pm.

Supporting Wairarapa farmers after heavy rain

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is working closely with farmers and rural communities in the Wairarapa to assess the impacts of recent heavy rain, which has damaged local roads and bridges and caused significant erosion on hillside farms. MPI staff is in regular contact with the local Rural Support Trust, to gauge the full extent of the damage and whether a formal adverse event classification is warranted. 

Single conduct regulator for financial markets

Credit regulation shifts to FMA making a single conduct regulator with clearer rules and stronger protections for New Zealand consumers. FMA takes over from the Commerce Commission as regulator for the consumer credit sector, becoming the single conduct regulator for financial markets in New Zealand.

The transfer, enabled by the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Act 2026, centralises financial market conduct oversight, delivering clearer rules and more streamlined regulation for lenders and consumers. 

Initially, the FMA will focus on the following areas:

• Lending practices, particularly suitability and affordability assessments 
• Remunerations structures and how conflicts of interest are managed 
• Complaints handling processes

Application of section CB 3 of the ITA 2007 (PUB00519)

IR issued When a disposal of land will be part of a profit-making undertaking or scheme subject to income tax under s CB 3. It considers whether disposals of land can be subject to income tax under s CB 3 of the ITA 2007 (Profit-making undertaking or scheme) or whether the land sale rules in the ITA 2007 are a code that comprehensively covers when land disposals are taxed. The statement concludes that s CB 3 can apply to tax disposals of land and provides guidance on when this may be the case.

The 'Notes' section on the front page of the statement provides information about IR's refined views. 

Send your comments by 5 August 2026 to: [email protected]

High Court dismisses interim stay and grants application 

In Commissioner of Inland Revenue v Jia (2026), IR’s Commissioner sought orders striking out certain paragraphs of the first defendant’s statement of defence on the basis that the identified paragraphs disclose no reasonably arguable defence.

The Commissioner argued that s 109 of the Tax Administration Act 1994 (TAA) barred the first defendant, from challenging the correctness of income tax assessments in these civil debt proceedings.

One week before the hearing, the first defendant applied for an interim stay. He argued that he was applying for the Commissioner to amend the assessments under s 113 of the TAA and that the proceedings should be stayed pending its determination.

The Court dismissed the stay application and granted the Commissioner’s strike-out application.

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