Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]

SALES TAX ASSESSMENT (EXCLUDED STBS) REGULATIONS 1997 NO. 273

STATUTORY RULES 1997 No. 273

Issued by the Authority of the Assistant Treasurer

Sales Tax Assessment Act 1992

Sales Tax Assessment (Excluded STBs) regulations

Subsection 131 of the Sales Tax Assessment Act 1992 (the Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations prescribing matters which are required or permitted to be prescribed by regulations, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed by regulations, for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

The purpose of the regulations is to prescribe those wholly-owned State and Territory Bodies (STBs) which are 'excluded STBs' for the purposes of transition credit grounds two and three in Schedule 1 to the Act, that is, prescribe those STBs which are excluded from claiming a Wholesales Sales Tax (WST) credit under transition credit grounds two and three in Schedule 1 to the Act and are therefore subject to WST. STBs are bodies which are 'controlled' by one or more government entities, that is, they are entities owned by States or Territories. Sections 3D(1) - 3D(5) of the Sales Tax (Exemptions and Classifications) Act specify the control tests. Transitional credit grounds specify the eligibility criteria for WST credits.

The Statement of Policy Intent (SOPI) agreed at the 1994 Premiers' Conference required the Commonwealth to exempt all STBs from WST and the States and Territories to subject all STBs to WST equivalent regimes.

In order to comply with the SOPI, the Commonwealth amended the Act in 1995 to exempt all STBs from WST. Subsequently, all States and Territories have sought to exclude, on the grounds of administrative convenience, some STBs from being able to claim the WST credits provided by transitional credit grounds two and three in Schedule 1 to the Act.

An STB will not be exempt from WST, that is, unable to claim WST credits, if it is an 'excluded STB'. An 'excluded STB' is one which is prescribed by regulations made for the purpose of a transitional credit ground, such as transitional credit grounds two and three in Schedule 1 to the Act.

While the Act does not require that the States and Territories consent to regulations which prescribe that an STB is an 'excluded STB' for the purposes of a transitional credit ground, all State Premiers and Territory Chief Ministers have been consulted regarding the proposed regulations and have provided their written consent.

The regulations commenced on the date of gazettal.