TAX PRACTITIONERS now have access to extended COVID-19 concessions to assist them to meet their registration and renewal requirements during the pandemic.

In addition to the existing extension of the annual declaration concession to December 31, 2020, other Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) COVID-19 initiatives have been extended as follows:

• continued professional education (CPE) (private reading and activities) concessions to be extended to 31 December 2020
• renewal concession to continue to June 30, 2021
• relevant experience concession to continue to June 30, 2021.

TPB chair, Ian Klug, said the concessions reflect the board’s commitment to assisting tax practitioners who are experiencing a range of changed business circumstances during this time.

"Given the COVID-19 related challenges during the year, we have been swift to relax regulatory requirements, including annual declarations, registrations and CPE requirements," Mr Klug said.

"The TPB is committed to continuing to provide support and to be pragmatic in recognition of the broad range of impacts of the pandemic on tax practitioners and their clients.

"While some are experiencing increased demand for their services, others may have less work and therefore, less relevant experience, and may need to access both self-care resources by the way of the CPE concession, and possibly fee deferrals.

"These extensions to the original concessions announced by the TPB in March are intended to provide tax practitioners with additional reassurance that their health and well-being is our number one priority,’ he said.

"We encourage tax practitioners to contact the TPB if they are encountering difficulties in meeting their TPB obligations so that we can consider their individual circumstances and work with them to find an appropriate outcome."

Mr Klug said the concessional arrangements are in line with a whole-of-government approach to managing the pandemic and its broad impacts on the community.

Resources highlighting support for tax practitioners during COVID-19 are available here.

More information on the impact of the concessions on tax practitioners is available here.

About the Tax Practitioners Board

The Tax Practitioners Board regulates tax practitioners in order to protect consumers. The TPB aims to assure the community that tax practitioners meet appropriate standards of professional and ethical conduct. Follow us on Twitter @TPB_gov_au, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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NESTLE and Australian recycler iQ Renew today announced the next steps in a trial which will see soft plastics collected through kerbside recycling and diverted from landfill.

The trial will commence with 2,000 households on the NSW Central Coast, with plans to extend it to around 140,000 homes.

With the vast majority of post-consumer soft plastic going to landfill, the trial aims to find ways to collect household soft plastic and turn it into a resource. 

Participating households will collect their clean soft plastics in a purpose-made bright yellow ‘Curby’ bag, then when the bag is full, tie it up, tag it and place it in their yellow recycling bin for pick up with their regular recycling collection. 

Tags will identify the bags and help to improve the sorting process, ensuring they can be separated from other recyclables. The soft plastics will then be shredded and become a resource for use in other plastic products, chemical recycling and energy recovery.

iQ Renew CEO Danial Gallagher said the trial aimed to test how collecting and processing soft plastics could be scaled up. 

“We are delighted to partner with Nestlé and launch the Curby soft plastic recovery solution on the Central Coast. By piloting the Curby solution, residents of the Central Coast will help demonstrate that preventing soft plastic ending up in landfill is not only possible, but simple and highly achievable,” Mr Gallagher said.

“The trial will help answer a few questions – how will the community adopt this? Can we keep loose plastics out of other recyclables? Will the bags survive the truck? Can we use regular shopping bags?

“We’ve been testing ways to separate and recover soft plastic from other items in household recycling, which is challenging for sorting facilities. This trial will allow us to test that at larger scale, with the hope of bringing much needed recycling innovation to all Australians,” he said.

Mr Gallagher said that as the trial rolled out, it is important that people not participating in the trial continue to use return to store programs for their soft plastics.

Nestlé Australia CEO Sandra Martinez said with soft plastics making up 30 percent of the plastic packaging used in Australia, the company wanted to be part of finding new approaches to boosting recycling soft plastic packaging.

“While Nestlé wants to reduce its use of virgin plastics and increase our use of recycled packaging, this won’t happen without robust collection, sorting and processing systems. Experience in Australia and round the world shows that people are more likely to recycle when it’s easy to access, and that kerbside is most successful,” Ms Martinez said. 

Ms Martinez said since the trial was first announced at the National Plastics Summit in March, the company had had many approaches from the waste and recycling industries, local governments, packaging manufacturers and other companies making packaged goods wanting to know more.

“We already know Australians want better access to recycling for their soft plastics. Seeing this enthusiasm shared by so many is encouraging, as collective action by those with a shared vision for a waste free future will be critical to solving this complex challenge at scale.”

Central Coast Council’s director roads transport and drainage, Boris Bolgoff said, "The Council is excited to be piloting new ways to recover soft plastics, using existing services and facilities at no additional cost.

“Right now more than half of Central Coast residents’ household waste is sent to landfill, with soft plastics being common due to difficulties in separating it from other types of waste and recyclables and limited markets for the product,” Mr Bolgoff said. 

“Soft plastics not only pollute our land but they also cause significant damage to our environment and marine life – which is something our residents value immensely.”

Residents in the Central Coast Council area can sign up to be part of the initial phase of the trial at curbythebilby.com.au

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STOIC Venture Capital has announced it has concentrated the bulk of its portfolio toward healthcare after significantly increasing its holdings to 17 companies since establishing two and a half years ago.

Stoic Venture Capital is the co-investment Fund of Uniseed, a commercialisation fund which focuses on financing early-stage companies that emerge from member universities.

Stoic Venture Capital partner, Geoff Waring said nine of the total 17 companies were developing new drugs, medical devices and treatments. The fund recently added Ferronova to its portfolio.

“Many investors prefer software to more medical and science-based technology because of the belief lengthy regulatory approval processes, clinical trials and quality-certified manufacturing processes means a longer holding period,” Dr Waring said.

“But in doing so, they do not consider that health venture capital investors typically sell to pharmaceutical companies at the end of phase 2 trials, while software companies must wait  to sell only after the product is long in the market with significant revenues.”

Dr Waring said Stoic Venture Capital’s close partnership with university-focused investment fund Uniseed gave investors access to some of the richest opportunities from Australia’s top universities that have the potential to improve the lives of millions of people.

“These companies are bringing new solutions to billion-dollar global health challenges, from enhancing immunity to treat respiratory diseases (Ena Therapeutics), to addiction rehabilitation (Kinoxis) and hot flushes in women receiving breast cancer treatment (Que Oncology),” Dr Waring said.

“Many are at an early stage of clinical development, but we believe they are the next generation of world leading medical and scientific companies.”

Dr Waring said Stoic Venture Capital’s portfolio not only had potential to deliver investors high returns but had a double purpose of contributing to the growth of Australian medical and scientific innovation.

“We recognise Australia’s need for stronger capabilities in health care to meet the needs of our ageing population,” Dr Waring said.

“Investing in health and science today, plays a vital role in creating a whole new generation of jobs and innovation for the future.

“We are committed to supporting early-stage health and science companies through initial trials to development and manufacturing.”

About Stoic Venture Capital

Stoic Venture Capital provides financing for early-stage companies, particularly those arising from university research. Stoic is unconditionally registered as an Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP) and takes a collaborative approach to investing in the highest potential companies.  www.stoicvc.com.au

About Uniseed

Uniseed is Australia’s longest running early stage commercialisation fund that makes investments in research emanating from five of Australia’s leading research organisations – The University of Queensland, The University of Sydney, The University of New South Wales, The University of Melbourne and the CSIRO. Uniseed is a mutual fund, owned by research organisations, for research organisations. The fund facilitates the commercialisation of its research partners’ most promising intellectual property and secures targeted investment in resulting products and technologies. Uniseed has supported 57 start-up companies to date, being the seed investor in most of these. www.uniseed.com

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THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has repeated its call for the State Government to commit to 10 years of stable royalty taxes to make the resource industry more attractive to global investors post COVID, and provide Queensland with economic stability and job security. 

The industry has also called on the government to “dramatically improve” its regulatory processes and cut excessive red and green tape. 

Chief executive Ian Macfarlane last week launched the mining and gas industry's 'You can count on us to help Queensland recover' campaign in the lead-up to the state election to raise awareness about the sector’s $74 billion annual contribution to the state economy. 

Mr Macfarlane said the only reason resources has been able to keep the state economy afloat during COVID was because of previous decades of large-scale investment in resources projects.

“Increased royalty rates and excessive regulation during the current term of the State Government has meant long term investors don’t regard investment in Queensland resource projects as positively as they have in the past,” Mr Macfarlane said. 

“The QRC is extremely concerned the Queensland Government doesn’t understand the long-term implications of the ‘go slow’ it has imposed on gas and mining operations over the past three years.

“Big resource companies that roll out big projects work on long-term timeframes, and they don’t like surprises.

“Offering 10 years of royalty stability and streamlining regulatory practices will immediately signal to potential investors that Queensland is open for business, and will translate to thousands of jobs and opportunities for Queenslanders.” 

Mr Macfarlane said the general public would be very surprised at just how difficult it’s become for resource companies to do business in Queensland. 

“The lack of legislative consultation with the resources industry, slow regulatory and approval processes, and the barriers being put in front of us has been unbelievable,” he said. 

“We have that many hoops to jump over and crawl through, by the time we get to the other side we’ve missed 10 opportunities to give Queensland another few decades of economic stability and jobs."

Mr Macfarlane said Queensland ranked 15th in terms of investment attractiveness in the globally recognised Fraser Institute survey of mining companies and investors released earlier this year, comparing poorly to Western Australia’s number one position.

“If you’re looking for the canary in the coalmine, this is it,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Not only does Queensland rank behind Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, we’ve got 11 other international competitors ahead of us who companies would prefer to invest their money with.

“This a terrible result for such a resource-rich state and reflects poorly on the government.” 

Mr Macfarlane said the QRC needs to see real change in the Queensland Government’s attitude towards resources in the lead-up to the state election.

“Our industry needs the Premier to commit to a stable royalty regime for the next 10 years and to world class regulation processes to enable us to do what we do best, which is running world-class mining and gas operations,” Mr Macfarlane said. 

"Large scale projects that get off the ground will lead to thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in royalty taxes for the State budget for decades, so this is an opportunity for the government to secure Queensland’s future post-COVID. 

“A balance can be struck between supporting mining as an industry, and making sure companies meet legislative requirements and community expectations around their environmental responsibilities. 

“The resource industry is ready to work with any government to achieve this.”

www.qrc.org.au

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THE House Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs is commencing public hearings for its inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence, with the first two hearings to take place on September 7 and 8.

On Monday September 7, the Committee will hear from government agencies, research institutes and other organisations about the experience of family violence in the Australian community and the policies and programs in place to respond to it and reduce its prevalence.

On Tuesday September 8, the Committee will further discuss these issues with various bodies including legal sector and service provider organisations, as well as focusing on technology-facilitated abuse with the eSafety Commissioner.

Chair of the Committee, Andrew Wallace MP, said, "These hearings are an opportunity for the Committee to hear about the current evidence base on the problem of family and domestic violence in Australia, and the actions being taken by governments and community organisations to prevent and respond to it.

"We want to investigate what is working well, and where there could be improvements, both to reduce violence against women and their children and to allow them to escape violence.

"In addition, though the significant majority of Australians experiencing domestic violence are women and children, the Committee understands that there are also men who live with this kind of abuse, and we are conscious of the need to inquire into its damaging impacts irrespective of the sex of the perpetrator or the victim.

"The Committee is also keen to hear about the impact the COVID-19 situation has had on those experiencing family violence, and on family violence service providers."

Mr Wallace said, "The Committee will use evidence from these and future hearings in formulating its report and recommendations, which will seek to inform the next National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children."

These hearings are the first of several expected to be held for the inquiry between now and November 2020.

In order to ensure public safety during the COVID-19 situation, Committee members and witnesses will participate in the hearing remotely, via videoconference and teleconference. Interested members of the public are invited to watch the live broadcast, available at aph.gov.au/live.

Further information, including hearing programs and submissions to the inquiry, is available on the Committee’s website.

Public hearing details

Date: Monday, 7 September 2020
Time: 8.45am to 4pm
Location: Via videoconference

Date: Tuesday, 8 September 2020 
Time: 8.45am to 4pm
Location: Via videoconference

View the public hearing programs here.

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THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell has welcomed legislation passed in the Senate to implement the Payment Times Reporting Scheme, requiring big businesses to be transparent about their payment times.

Ms Carnell said the Bill represented important progress at a time when it is critical small businesses are paid promptly.  

“Australian small businesses have been hit hard by the COVID crisis so getting paid on time is key to their survival,” Ms Carnell said.

“This Bill will require businesses with turnover of more than $100 million to publish information about their payment policies.

“It requires big businesses to be up front and honest about the time it takes to pay their small business suppliers.

“Importantly, the legislation introduced today will apply to around 3,000 Australian large businesses, including foreign companies that carry on an enterprise in Australia along with certain government enterprises.

“It also defines the small business as those that have a turnover of less than $10 million per year, which covers 99 percent of businesses.

“My office will be invoking the powers we have to investigate any reports of big businesses failing to live up to the information provided on this register once it is implemented.

“We support the Payment Times Reporting Scheme as passed by the Senate, however Labor’s ‘failsafe mechanism’ amendment would have strengthened the Bill.

“The proposed failsafe mechanism would have allowed the regulator to force big businesses to pay their small business suppliers in 30 days or face hefty fines, but the amendment was unsuccessful.

“In reality, the Payment Times Reporting Scheme is a step in the right direction, but it won’t solve the problem of late payment times on its own.

“Legislation requiring SMEs to be paid in 30 days is the only way to drive meaningful cultural change in business payment performance across the economy.

“Cash flow is king for small businesses and when small businesses are paid on time the entire economy benefits.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au

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A MOUNT DRUITT tax professional has been sentenced at the Sydney District Court to one year and eight months jail today, having pleaded guilty to dishonestly causing a loss to the Commonwealth of nearly $180,000 by lodging false income tax returns and amendments without his clients’ knowledge. He was also ordered to pay $179,826 in reparation.

Hussain Nazeer, a formerly registered Business Activity Statement (BAS) agent, lodged 22 fraudulent income tax returns for 14 of his clients between 2010 and 2013. This resulted in $23,000 of refunds that he kept for himself. Mr Nazeer’s clients provided honest information about their income and deductions, but he submitted different information in their returns.

Mr Nazeer also lodged 108 false tax return amendments on behalf of 37 taxpayers without their knowledge. His false claims, which mostly related to car and medical expenses, resulted in an extra $156,000 in refunds that went straight to his bank account.

Assistant Commissioner Adam Kendrick welcomed the sentence handed down today.

“Tax and BAS agents play a vital role in contributing to and protecting the integrity of the Australian tax and super systems. The majority of registered agents do the right thing, but unfortunately there are some agents who take advantage of their trusted position for financial benefit,” Mr Kendrick said.

The ATO has a program dedicated to identifying and addressing agents whose behaviour has an immediate and ongoing threat to the integrity of the tax and super systems, their clients, and the wider Australian community. 

“As demonstrated in today’s case, even registered tax professionals can be dishonest and take advantage of their clients,” Mr Kendrick said. "That is why it’s important for the ATO to maintain the integrity of the tax profession and weed out those who try to undermine their trusted position.

“Mr Nazeer’s actions showed a complete disregard for not only the law, but also his clients’ trust by lodging fraudulent tax returns and amendments in their names,” Mr Kendrick said.

Mr Nazeer’s registration with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) was ceased in April 2016. 

People concerned about the conduct of a tax practitioner can report them to the TPB at tpb.gov.au/make-complaint.

Anonymous reporting of possible tax evasion and crime activities can be reported to the ATO via the app or by calling 1800 060 062. 

This matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

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DIPLOMATIC representatives from Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Kingdom of Tonga, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, New Zealand, and Kiribati will meet today with members of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade for a roundtable discussion on the topics of Pacific trade, aid and defence.

The roundtable connects several inquiries from sub-committees of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.

Members of the sub-committees will be seeking the views of participants on the Australian Government’s Pacific Step-Up, infrastructure development, regional security, seasonal workers programs, a new development-centred trade agreement, the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus (PACER Plus) and the potential of a “Pacific bubble” for easier travel and tourism between the island nations and Australia and New Zealand, in response to the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Further details about the about the inquiries, including terms of reference, details on how to contribute a submission and, when available, details of public hearings and roundtable discussions, can be obtained from the Committee’s website.

Public hearing details

Date: Friday 4 September 2020
Time: 9am to 12:30pm
Location: Committee Room IR1, Parliament House, Canberra

The hearing will be audio streamed live at aph.gov.au/live.

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