Tax bills passed to allow for changes

The National Main Stories

By MALUM NALU
PARLIAMENT has passed the Income Tax Amendment Bill (2017), which allows for changes to the Income Tax Act 1959.
The Customs Tariff (Amendment) Bill 2017, Excise Tariff (Amendment) Bill 2017, Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill 2017, Income Tax, Dividend (Withholding) Tax and Interest (Withholding) Tax Rates (Amendment) Bill 2017,  and Inter-Government Relations (Functions and Funding) (Amendment) Bill 2017 were also passed on Friday.
Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch said the bill proposed:

  • An amendment to ensure the application of additional profits tax is applied across the resource sector;
  • An amendment to ensure resource projects subject to the Resource Contracts Fiscal Stability Act is adhered and honoured;
  • An amendment correcting unintended consequences relating to taxation of dividend which will:
  • Ensure that dividend withholding tax (DWT) is paid by the three groups of taxpayers consistent with the intention of the current law;
  • Reinstate the former provisions which effectively make DWT a final tax in the hands of resident individuals, trust estates and non-resident persons;
  • Ensure that dividends paid to non-residents will not be included in their assessable income with no requirement to lodge tax returns;
  • Reinstate the former DWT refund provision with a sunset clause to allow Internal Revenue Commission to deal with issues regarding transitional DWT credits; and
  • Ensure that taxpayers who were previously exempted from DWT will no longer be paying DWT as they are no longer liable;
  • An amendment relating to base erosion and profit shifting to correct a minor modification to the minimum financial threshold that triggers the financial reporting requirement; and,
  • Other minor technical amendments to correct typos and incorrect referencing.