ASSISTANT  Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Keith Pitt will host a seminar in Kununurra on Monday February 20 to help local businesses make the most of Australia’s free trade agreements (FTAs) with Korea, Japan and China.

Local business people are being invited to the free information seminar at the Kununurra Country Club Resort, 47 Coolibah Drive, Kununurra, from 7am to 10am.

Attendees will get the opportunity to hear directly from Australian Government representatives about how FTAs can help them succeed in international markets, and special guest speaker Jim Engelke, General Manager for Kimberley Agricultural Investment (KAI), will share his experience in exporting under the North Asia FTAs.

KAI employs about 70 people in Kununurra and produces grains such as chia, sorghum, corn and quinoa for the Chinese market.

“The Australian Government has secured unprecedented access to more than a billion potential customers for Australian goods and services through our free-trade agreements with Korea, Japan and China,” Mr Pitt said.

“Our North Asia FTAs give Australian exporters a competitive edge in these key markets, boosting opportunities for more sales abroad and more jobs here in Australia. They also lay the foundation for stronger flows of two-way investment.

“I strongly encourage small and medium-business owners in the Kimberley region to attend this FTA seminar and hear first-hand how they can make the most of these landmark agreements.

“The Australian Government is determined to support exporters in regional Australia through these important seminars.”

Attendees can register for the free FTA seminar, which is relevant to all industries, at http://www.austrade.gov.au/ftaseminars or find out more by contacting Austrade (13 28 78 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

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CHAIR of the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB), Ian Taylor, reminds financial planners and advisers who have not yet registered with the TPB that time is running out to take advantage of the transitional registration option which ends on June 30.

Financial planners and advisers who are providing tax (financial) advice as part of their advice to clients for a fee or reward, must be registered with the TPB as a tax (financial) adviser in order to provide this service legally. This applies to:

• Australian financial services (AFS) licensees 
• authorised representatives (ARs) 
• individual ARs
• corporate authorised representatives (CAR) - where an AR operates through a CAR structure, both will need to be registered
• employee representatives who may be required to be registered for the purpose of a company or partnership having a sufficient number of registered individuals - being registered tax (financial) advisers or tax agents. 

"You currently have two options available to register as a tax (financial) adviser," Mr Taylor said. "These options are transitional registration (only available until 30 June) and standard registration.
 
"You may decide that transitional registration is the best option: transitional registration gives you extra time to satisfy the registration requirements under the standard registration option. This includes individuals meeting qualifications and experience requirements, and companies and partnerships meeting the sufficient number requirement," Mr Taylor said.
 
"To register under the transitional option you must have sufficient experience to be able to provide tax (financial) advice services to a competent standard – which is generally the equivalent of 18 months or longer of full time experience," he said.
 
"If you wish to take advantage of the transitional registration option, it is only available until June 30 this year. After this time all registrations and renewals will need to meet the standard registration requirements."
 
Further detail about the registration options is available on the TPB website www.tpb.gov.au

THE SMALL BUSINESS capital gains tax (CGT) concessions are far too complex and eligibility rules need to be simplified, according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA).

“Although the rules were subject to a post implementation review by the Board of Tax, the eligibility rules need to be simplified,” said IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway.

“Their complexity is partly due to having to deal with multiple business structures and anti-avoidance provisions but there is an opportunity to rationalise and streamline the CGT concessions which was also part of the Henry Review recommendations.

“The four current and separate small business CGT concessions require taxpayers to navigate complex legislation. 

“A number of existing concessions such as the 50 per cent reduction and the 15 year exemption are highly concessional and can eliminate any CGT liability when business owners exit their investment.

“The concessions are generally uncapped and are generous tax concessions which should be repealed.  The savings can be redirected to assist small businesses during more productive times in the business life cycle,

“The concessions reward successful businesses at the end of the business cycle.  Many businesses miss out using these concessions due to the fact that the business sale does not generate goodwill.

“The IPA recommends that these concessions be reviewed and redirected towards the start-up and growth phase of the business to improve the chances of survival.

“The CGT concessions provisions provide windfall gains to successful businesses and are too focused on the end point of the business life cycle.  They can also reduce incentives for business to grow in certain circumstances.

“We support the recommendation by the Henry Review to rationalise and streamline the CGT small business concessions from four separate concessions down to two,” said Mr Conway.

These recommendations form part of the IPA’s pre-Budget submission.  For more information go to: http://bit.ly/2jxoU7L

publicaccountants.org.au

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THE Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) will join the four major banks at the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics’ public hearings in March for the review of the performance of Australia’s banking and financial system.

One of the committee’s focus areas is on how  individual banks and the banking industry as a whole are responding to issues previously raised in Parliamentary and other inquiries, including through the Australian Bankers' Association's April 2016 six point plan to enhance consumer protections and in response to Government reforms and actions by regulators.

The Chair of the committee, Mr David Coleman, MP, stated that ‘these hearings provide an important mechanism to hold the banking sector to account before the Parliament’.

‘As the ABA is charged with addressing numerous issues of concern to consumers, it is important that they are scrutinised by the committee.’

Public Hearing Details:

Public hearing day 1

Friday, 3 March 2017
Committee Room 2R1,
Parliament House, Canberra
NAB - 9.15am to 12.15pm

Public hearing day 2

Tuesday, 7 March 2017
Main Committee Room,
Parliament House, Canberra
CBA - 9.15am to 12.15pm
ANZ - 1.15pm to 4.15pm

Public hearing day 3

Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Main Committee Room,
Parliament House, Canberra
Westpac - 9.15am to 12.15pm
ABA - 1.15pm to 3.15pm

Website: www.aph.gov.au/economics

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