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🏛 House of Representatives3 readingsAmendments circulated

Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) 2020

✦ Plain-English Summary

# Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020

## What it does
This is a grab-bag bill that makes four separate technical changes to tax, superannuation, and competition laws. The main parts are: refunding energy companies for renewable energy shortfalls, tidying up old superannuation complaint rules, increasing penalties for breaking industry codes, and extending a temporary power related to COVID-19 economic support.

## Why it matters
Most of these changes are technical fixes that affect specific industries or existing schemes rather than everyday Australians. The renewable energy refund and industry code penalties could indirectly influence energy and business costs, but the direct impact on households is minimal.

## Key details
- **Energy refund**: Companies can get tax-free refunds under the Renewable Energy Act if they've missed renewable energy targets—but they can't use this to dodge tax deductions for their business costs
- **Superannuation**: Updates complaint handling after the old system was scrapped in 2018
- **Commencement dates vary**: The energy refund kicks in from the next quarter (Jan/Apr/Jul/Oct) after the bill passes, while other parts start the day after

Official Description

Amends the: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to make refunds of large-scale generation shortfall charges non-assessable non-exempt income for income tax purposes; Treasury Laws Amendment (Putting Consumers First—Establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority) Act 2018 to: facilitate the closure and any transitional arrangements associated with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) replacing the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT); provide for the transfer of records and documents from the SCT to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission; include a power for the Federal Court to remit cases back to AFCA; and include a rule-making power to allow the minister to prescribe matters of a transitional nature; Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to increase the maximum amount of penalty units that can be included in regulations that prescribe an industry code from 300 to 600 penalty units; and Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus (Measures No. 2) Act 2020 to extend the temporary mechanism which enables ministers to change arrangements for meeting information and documentary requirements.

Committee Referrals

Senate Economics Legislation Committee; Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

Full bill PDF →APH page →

Audit History

Introduced

28 Oct 2020

Last updated on APH

10 Apr 2026

Last checked by Crossbench

yesterday

Full text indexed

yesterday

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