Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank all of the honourable members who have contributed to this debate, particularly the last. Schedule 1 to the Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 2) Bill 2022 makes it easier for businesses struggling with their record-keeping obligations. If a business does not comply with their record-keeping obligations, the Commissioner of Taxation will be allowed to offer them a choice to undertake a record-keeping course rather than pay financial penalties. Something that may have been lost in some of the debate is that this choice will not be available to businesses who are disengaged from the tax system or who are deliberately avoiding their obligations.

I'll turn quickly to schedule 2, which didn't get as much focus during the parliamentary debate, but it is important. Schedule 2 extends the existing third-party reporting requirements to operators of electronic platforms, market platforms in particular. Platform operators will be required to report to the Australian Taxation Office information regarding certain transactions that occur on their platforms to ensure they are meeting tax obligations and to ensure that there is not an unfair advantage over the majority of other businesses in the economy that are already complying with their reporting obligations.

Schedule 3 of the bill before the House reduces compliance costs for individuals claiming self-education deductions by removing the exclusion of the first $250 of deductions for prescribed education courses. This will be of particular benefit to small businesses and their staff.

Schedule 4 of the bill allows small businesses to seek orders from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal that stay or otherwise affect the ATO's debt recovery actions while the small business is in the process of disputing the underlying tax assessment in the Small Business Taxation Division of the AAT. Applying to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal rather than having to go through a court is going to save small business both time—as much as 60 days of waiting for a decision to be made—and, just as importantly, money in court and legal fees. These orders will be subject to integrity checks intended to prevent aggressive taxpayers without genuine disputes from receiving stay orders with the intention of merely frustrating the inevitable tax recovery of debts.

Schedule 5 to the bill expands eligibility for those aged 55 years and over to make downsizer contributions to their superannuation. This will allow more Australians to consider downsizing to a home that better suits their needs, thereby increasing the availability of suitable housing for Australian families quite simply by adding to the supply of housing. Older Australians moving into more suitable, smaller housing will free up larger houses to be purchased by another family, adding to the supply and, by its very nature, putting downward pressure on housing prices. With those comments, in summing up, I'd like to commend the bill to the House.

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