Global Daily Tax News, Australia Issues Reportable Tax Positions Guidance, (Feb 13, 2025)

The Australian Taxation Office has published an overview of changes to the Reportable Tax Position schedule for 2025, as well as instructions on its completion.

The reportable tax position (RTP) schedule is a schedule to the company tax return. It gathers information on uncertain tax positions from the largest companies. The schedule features questions related to tax avoidance, profit shifting, or both.

The following Category C questions have been added to the schedule:

• Question 46: application of certain aspects of the "liable entity" and "hybrid payer" definitions to the taxpayer's arrangements ( Taxation Determination TD 2024/4);

• Question 47: restructure(s) in response to the debt deduction creation rules (DDCR) in Subdivision 820-EAA of the ITAA 1997.

Meanwhile, Question 10 of the Category C questions has been removed, due to legislative changes. Guidance is included in Taxpayer Alert TA 2016/9 Thin capitalisation - Incorrect calculation of the value of 'debt capital' treated wholly or partly as equity for accounting purposes.

Finally, the following changes have been made in the RTP schedule 2025:

• Question 17, minor changes;

• Question 22, changes made to the comments field to align with local file short form lodgment;

• Question 23, changes made to the comments field;

• Question 44, adjustment to subcategories, minor edits, and changes to the comments field to align with local file short form lodgement;

• Question 45, adjustment to subcategories, minor edits, and changes to the comments field to align with local file short form lodgement, relating to Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2024/1 Intangibles migration arrangements.

Large businesses must self-assess against the lodgment criteria listed in the RTP schedule instructions each year, to determine whether to file a schedule.