✦ Plain-English Summary

Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 2) Bill 2020

What it does

This bill makes six separate changes to Australia's tax and finance laws. The main ones are: closing loopholes that let multinational companies dodge tax through complicated financial structures, improving how child support information is reported to authorities, giving community sheds tax deduction status, increasing Australia's funding to the World Bank, and expanding which charities can receive tax-deductible donations.

Why it matters

The hybrid mismatch rules are the heavy hitter here—they're designed to stop big companies from using shell entities in different countries to claim deductions in multiple places or avoid tax entirely. The child support changes mean better data sharing between tax authorities and family services. Together, these are meant to improve tax compliance and make sure public money gets to the right places.

Key details

• Hybrid mismatch rules: Targets multinational companies using deliberately mismatched tax treatment across borders (e.g. a payment counts as tax-deductible in one country but isn't taxed income in another)
• Child support reporting: Integrates single touch payroll data with child support collection, so tax records help track what people actually earn for payment obligations
• Community sheds: Groups can now register as deductible gift recipients, opening up charitable donations for local community projects
• Commencement: Most provisions kick in from the next quarterly date (1 Jan/April/July/Oct) after the bill passes, though World Bank funding changes take effect immediately

Official Description

Amends the: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to: amend the hybrid mismatch rules; introduce a general category of deductible gift recipient (DGR) for community sheds; and update the list of DGRs to include eight new entities; Taxation Administration Act 1953 to: broaden the amounts that employers can voluntarily report under the Single Touch Payroll rules to include employer withholding of child support deductions and child support garnishee amounts; and enable the disclosure of protected information, relating to the JobKeeper Scheme, to the Fair Work Commission and the Fair Work Ombudsman; Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 and Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 to make consequential amendments; and International Finance Corporation Act 1955 and International Monetary Agreements Act 1947 to: establish frameworks under which Australia may enter into agreements with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group to buy additional shares of their respective capital stocks; and authorise appropriations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the purposes of such payments.

Committee Referrals

Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

No formal division recorded

This bill passed by voice vote — parliament agreed without calling a formal count. A division is only recorded when a member explicitly requests one.

No votes yet.

No votes were recorded for this bill.