EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 2) Act 2009 — Proclamation
Issued by authority of the Assistant Treasurer
Subsection 2(1) of the Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 2) Act 2009 (the Act) provides that Part 2 of Schedule 6 to the Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation. However, if any of the provisions in Part 2 of Schedule 6 do not commence within the period of 12 months beginning on the day on which the Act receives the Royal Assent, then those provisions commence on the first day after the end of that 12 month period. The Act received Royal Assent on 23 June 2009.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to fix 5 April 2010 as the day on which
Part 2 of Schedule 6 of the Act commences.
Schedule 6 makes various amendments to the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999 (ABN Act) to improve the integrity and efficiency of the Australian Business Register (ABR) and assist the ABR in undertaking its new role of Multi-agency Registration Authority. These changes facilitate the introduction of the Standard Business Reporting (SBR) program, which will be available to businesses from 1 July 2010 and will provide business with a streamlined approach to meeting the various reporting requirements of different government agencies in Australia.
Part 2 of Schedule 6 provides for amendments to the ABN Act, which includes various administrative amendments pertaining to the registration process and the use of tax file numbers in the registration process. These changes also provide additional powers to the Registrar and include objection rights for decisions made by the Registrar. These amendments also introduce two new offence provisions which apply where an entity impersonates a registered representative of the enterprise or where an entity is non-compliant with a request for information concerning the identify of the representative or details entered in the ABR in respect of that representative.
The start date of 5 April 2010 will assist the development of the ABR into a
Multi-agency Reporting Authority and facilitate the early registration of individuals and representatives of businesses, for the purpose of enabling electronic dealings with government agencies. This will ensure a smooth progress of the registration component of the SBR program.
The Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.