Written by Tim Wells
The Government has announced a range of funding to support its deregulation agenda and to enhance the payment times reporting scheme. Changes have also been announced to rules regarding self-education expense deductions and upgrades to the transparency of income tax exemptions claimed by not-for-profits.
Government's deregulation agenda
The Government will provide $134.6 million over four years from 2021‑22 to progress the Commonwealth's deregulation agenda to reduce regulatory burden and make it easier for businesses to get people into jobs and interact with government. Funding includes:
- $3.9 million over two years to enable reviews to increase the transparency and accountability of regulator cost recovery activities and reduce cost to business on an ongoing basis;
- $10.0 million over four years from 2021‑22 (and $1.2 million ongoing per year) to implement regulatory technology solutions to assist employers to interpret and comply with modern awards, and to explore and promote new ways of assisting employers through regulatory technology; and
- reduce regulatory burden on private international education providers by removing the requirement for international education providers to report the receipt of international student fees on the Provider Registration and International Student Management System from 1 July 2021.
Reducing compliance costs for individuals claiming self-education expense deductions
The Government has announced that it will remove the exclusion of the first $250 of deductions for prescribed courses of education. The measure will have effect from the first income year after the date of Royal Assent of the enabling legislation.
The first $250 of a prescribed course of education expense is currently not deductible. Removing the $250 exclusion for prescribed courses of education will reduce compliance costs for individuals claiming self‑education expense deductions.
Not-for-profits – enhancing the transparency of income tax exemptions
The Government will provide $1.9 million capital funding in 2022‑23 to the ATO to build an online system to enhance the transparency of income tax exemptions claimed by not‑for‑profit entities (NFPs).
Currently non‑charitable NFPs can self‑assess their eligibility for income tax exemptions, without an obligation to report to the ATO. From 1 July 2023, the ATO will require income tax exempt NFPs with an active Australian Business Number (ABN) to submit online annual self‑review forms with the information they ordinarily use to self‑assess their eligibility for the exemption. This measure will ensure that only eligible NFPs are accessing income tax exemptions
Enhanced payment times reporting scheme
The Government will provide an additional $16.0 million over four years from 2021‑22 to ensure the effective operation of the Payment Times Reporting Scheme, which came into effect on 1 January 2021. The Scheme requires large businesses to report their payment terms and practices to their small business suppliers.
