10 Jul LEGAL EXPENSES INCURRED BY A COMPANY OPPOSING A PETITION FOR WINDING UP.
Question ONE
The Income Tax Assessment Act of 1997 provides several cases on how expenditure on some items is to be treated for tax accounting purposes. The various expenditures incurred by a business are treated differently, depending on their classifications. The following are few situations, and how they are treated:
a) During project execution, machines may be moved. Some cost is incurred when moving machinery from one site to another. The cost incurred during such movement of machinery is known as expenditure on capital, or capital expenditure. According to section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act of 199797, there are no deductions on capital expenditure (Afshari-Jouybari, H., & Farahnaky, 2011). When these costs are involved, the depreciation of the asset increases, increasing the amount of depreciation included for the purpose of accounting.
b) Revaluation of assets is sometimes needed in order to obtain insurance policies ( John Wiley & Sons, 2012). Sometimes, this process may incur some expenses in terms of paying the valuers and other associated costs. These kind of expenses results into increase in expenditure on fixed assets (Fritz, & Schiefer, 2009). Tax deductibility on these expenses occurs if the expenses result to reduction of the capacity of the entity to make profits. Under section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act of 1997, if the expenditure positively influences the capacity of earning revenue, then it is deductible for taxation purposes because such benefits are not to be experienced for a long period of time.
c) Legal expenses incurred by a company opposing a petition for winding up.
Companies are legal artificial persons who have the capacity to enter into legal suits on its own without the involvement of the owners. As a result, it will require the services of legal personnel, which are paid for. During winding up, legal cases are involved, and there two factors that are considered when deciding on the taxation behavior of the expenses involve. These are the structure of the expenditure and effect on the ability of the business to earn income. If there is an interruption on the normal operations of the business, it means that the ability or capacity of the firm to make profit is negatively affected. In this case, the expense is a capital expenditure, hence no deductions made (Afshari-Jouybari, H., & Farahnaky, 2011). Looking into the other side, if the results of the case greatly influence the general process of the business operation, the expenditure involved is considered as revenue when accounting for taxation.
d) Legal expenses incurred for the services of a solicitor in respect of a number of matters
Lawyer charges, litigation fees and many other legal expenses are incurred during the life of any business entity (Hoch, Roeding, Lindner, & Purkert, G. 2010). These kinds of expenses are known as investment or business expenses. They affect the normal operations of the business and are fully deductible. There are many business expenses, which include but not limited to the following: negotiating employment terms with order workers and wrongful dismissal expenses, defamation charges, evicting a tenant who has defaulted in rent payment, to mention but a few.
The following costs are also deductible:
Costs incurred in amending an existing employment agreement are deductible; however, costs associated with securing an employment agreement with a new employer are not deductible to the employee.
Costs incurred in arbitration; settling disputes arising out of employment agreements are deductible for both employers and employees. Costs of amending existing terms and conditions of employment with the same employer are also deductible, as well as the Costs of renewing or extending a contract of employment that have a fixed term (Gelinas & Dull, 2008).
There are other legal charges incurred by individuals, which do not amount to any effect on the business. Those incurred by individuals are not deductible, and include loan discharge expenses, borrowing expenses and expenses on lease payment valuation, the cost of negotiating employment contracts, defending driving charges, charges of sexual harassment in the workplace, eviction of a tenant after term expiry, etc. They are capital expenses in nature (Fritz, & Schiefer, 2009).
Section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 is the key provision which relates to general deductions ( John Wiley & Sons, 2012). This provides that one can deduct from their assessable income any loss or outgoing to the extent that it is incurred in gaining or producing the assessable income or it is necessarily incurred in the course of doing business with aim of gaining assessable income.
The section also provides cases when one cannot deduct a loss. These cases include if it is a loss or a capital nature or when it is a loss or outgoing of a private or domestic nature (Afshari-Jouybari, H., & Farahnaky, 2011). Finally, a loss or outgoing that can be deducted under this section is called a general deduction.
Moreover, the section allows the taxpayer to subtract all losses suffered in the process of acquiring assessable income. Taxpayers are not however permitted to deduct a loss of capital or domestic nature. Capital expenses are quite hard to claim an allowable deduction.
Question two
The total Expenditure incurred by the business = $ 1,650,000
Subtract cost incurred on advertisement through television = $550,000 (taxable)
Remaining amount which is not taxable= $ 1,100,000 (not taxable)
Let us assume the total amount of GST paid = $ 1,650,000 * 10/110 = $150,000
GST that was incurred on print media = $1,100,000 * 10/110 = $100,000 (this is exempted for taxation)
Expenditure amount on television media = $ 550000 * 10/110 = $ 50,000
The difference on print media is given by ($150,000- $50,000 =$100,000). This amount can be claimed as input tax credit
Question Three.
One can claim the foreign income tax offset in his/ her income tax return. This is done in order to discourage double taxation. This is done excluding any penalties and interest and disregarding any tax offsets. In order to arrive at Angelo’s s foreign income tax that is offset, the limit is first computed using the following few steps:
First Step:
The first step will be to calculate the gross tax payable on his taxable income
Tax on $62,000 (note medical expenses are not deductible): $12,937 (includes Medicare levy of 2%)
Second Step: the second step will be computing the tax that would be payable depending on some factors:
His assessable income is not inclusive of any amount where foreign income tax has been paid and his foreign income tax offset or other non-Australian source amounts, calculated as follows:
Details Amount ($)
Employment income from United States 12,000
Employment income from United Kingdom 8,000
Rental income from United Kingdom 2,000
Dividend income from United Kingdom 1,200
Interest income from United Kingdom 800
Total 24,000
The difference between the foreign income tax that Aangelo has paid and the offset limit cannot be refunded or carried forward to a future income year (Afshari-Jouybari, & Farahnaky, 2011). It should be noted that foreign income tax is deducted from the person’s assessable income, and this provides an explanation as to why it was deducted from income at this step.
Any expenses that are close to the amounts included in Aangelo’s assessable income on which foreign income tax has been paid, as long as the tax counts towards his foreign income tax offset, or other non-Australian amounts that are part of his assessable income (excluding debt deductions).
Our website has a team of professional writers who can help you write any of your homework. They will write your papers from scratch. We also have a team of editors just to make sure all papers are of HIGH QUALITY & PLAGIARISM FREE. To make an Order you only need to click Ask A Question and we will direct you to our Order Page at WriteDemy. Then fill Our Order Form with all your assignment instructions. Select your deadline and pay for your paper. You will get it few hours before your set deadline.
Fill in all the assignment paper details that are required in the order form with the standard information being the page count, deadline, academic level and type of paper. It is advisable to have this information at hand so that you can quickly fill in the necessary information needed in the form for the essay writer to be immediately assigned to your writing project. Make payment for the custom essay order to enable us to assign a suitable writer to your order. Payments are made through Paypal on a secured billing page. Finally, sit back and relax.
About Writedemy
We are a professional paper writing website. If you have searched a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help in your coursework. We offer HIGH QUALITY & PLAGIARISM FREE Papers.
How It Works
To make an Order you only need to click on “Order Now” and we will direct you to our Order Page. Fill Our Order Form with all your assignment instructions. Select your deadline and pay for your paper. You will get it few hours before your set deadline.
Are there Discounts?
All new clients are eligible for 20% off in their first Order. Our payment method is safe and secure.