The Federal Government has announced today that the Senate Economic Legislation Committee’s (the Committee) delayed public hearing into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Research and Development Tax Incentive) Bill 2019 (the R&D Tax Bill) is taking place next Monday, 29 June in Canberra. The Committee is due to report back in August.
At the time of writing, there are no details on the Parliamentary website in terms of the program and appearing parties. Media reports suggest that attendees include Research Australia, Medicines Australia, Manufacturing Australia, Universities Australia, the Business Council of Australia, Science and Technology Australia, the Australian Information Industry Association, the Department of Industry, the Australian Taxation Office and Treasury but it seems that no claiming companies or R&D tax advisers have been invited to appear. The lack of transparency around the hearing two working days out raises genuine questions regarding the conduct of the enquiry process. There are echoes of the first enquiry where none of the written submissions regarding the R&D Tax Bill were made public until 18 months after the close date.
It will be fascinating to see how the Committee deals with the almost uniformly negative 100 written submissions that were provided last November.
You can follow the hearing on the following link: https://lnkd.in/grPyqsq
Should you wish to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to contact Kris Gale on 02 9810 7211 or email kris.gale@mjassociates.com.au