Private ruling: Capital gains tax
Date of advice: 22 September 2015
Published: September 2015
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2014
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2013

Ruling: Question and answer | Is the income accumulated in your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) included in your assessable income if you do not withdraw the funds? | No.

Relevant facts and circumstances: This ruling is based on the facts stated in the description of the scheme that is set out below. If your circumstances are materially different from these facts, this ruling has no effect and you cannot rely on it. The fact sheet has more information about relying on your private ruling. You are a resident of Australia for taxation purposes. You have a retirement fund overseas. You have not withdrawn any funds from the account. The accounts are not taxed overseas until money is withdrawn from them.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subsection 99B(1) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 paragraph 99B(2)(a) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subsection 481(3) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 6-10 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 subsection 6-10(4) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section10-5

Reasons for decision: Summary: A foreign trust is defined in subsection 481(3) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936) as a trust which is not an Australian trust, and which did not result from a will or an intestacy in relation to the estate of a deceased person. You have a retirement account overseas. The retirement account is a personal savings plan that gives you tax advantages for setting aside money for retirement. This account is set up for the exclusive benefit of you or your beneficiaries. The account is a foreign trust as defined in subsection 481(3) of the ITAA 1936 and is therefore a foreign investment fund (FIF). The account is not a superannuation fund for the purposes of the ITAA 1997 and the ITAA 1936 as it allows for withdrawals for pre-retirement purposes. Therefore a retirement account is not established solely for the provision of retirement benefits. Repeal of FIF measures On 14 July 2010, the FIF measures were repealed and do not apply from the 2010-11 income year onwards. If you have an interest in a FIF, you will be subject to the general tax rules applicable to your circumstances - for example, the general tax rules relating to trust income. Assessability of trust income Section 6-10 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) provides that the assessable income of a resident taxpayer includes statutory income amounts that are not ordinary income but are included in assessable income by another provision. Subsection 6-10(4) of the ITAA 1997 provides that for an Australian resident, your assessable income includes statutory income derived from all sources, whether in or out of Australia, during the income year. Section 10-5 of the ITAA 1997 lists certain statutory amounts that form part of assessable income. Included in this list is income derived pursuant to section 99B of the ITAA 1936. Subsection 99B(1) of the ITAA 1936 provides that where, during a year of income, a beneficiary who was a resident at any time during the year is paid a distribution from a trust, or has an amount of trust property applied for their benefit, the amount is to be included in the assessable income of the beneficiary. Subsection 99B(2) of the ITAA 1936 modifies the rule in subsection 99B(1) and has the effect that the amount to be included in assessable income under subsection (1) is not to include any amount that represents either: • the corpus of the trust (paragraph 99B(2)(a) of the ITAA 1936) • amounts that would not have been included in the assessable income of a resident taxpayer (paragraph 99B(2)(b) of the ITAA 1936), and • amounts previously included in the beneficiaries income under section 97 of the ITAA 1936 (paragraph 99B(2)(c) of the ITAA1936). Paragraph 99B(2)(a) of the ITAA 1936 requires regard to be had to whether or not the amount derived by a trust estate was of a kind that would have been assessable if derived by a resident taxpayer. Thus, for example, if, in accordance with the terms of the trust, income were accumulated and added to corpus and the capitalised amount is subsequently paid or applied for the benefit of a beneficiary, the beneficiary would be assessable on the amount provided (subject to other paragraphs of subsection 99B(2) of the ITAA 1936). In this case, you have not withdrawn any amounts from your account. Until you withdraw from the account no income has been paid to you or applied for your benefit. Therefore, any income that is accumulated in the account is not assessable to you if you do not withdraw the funds. | Detailed Reasoning - Interest and penalty protection: You can rely on this advice to provide you with protection from interest and penalties in the way explained below. If the advice turns out to be incorrect and you underpay your tax as a result, you will not have to pay a penalty. Nor will you have to pay interest on the underpayment provided you reasonably relied on the advice in good faith. However, even if you don't have to pay a penalty or interest, you will have to pay the correct amount of tax. | Detailed Reasoning - Foreign Income Tax Offset (FITO): With effect from 1 July 2008, the foreign tax credit (FTC) system has been replaced by the foreign income tax offset (FITO) system contained in Division 770 of the ITAA 1997. Subsection 770-10(1) of the ITAA 1997 provides that a person is entitled to a FITO for foreign tax paid in respect of an amount that is included in the person's assessable income in a year of income. It is not necessary that the payment of foreign income tax actually occurs in the claim year. To determine the amount of FITO in any particular year, a person must first calculate the total foreign income tax paid on amounts included in their assessable income for the year. The tax offset has the effect of reducing the Australian tax that would otherwise be payable on the double-taxed amount. A FITO is a non-refundable tax offset. The FITO rules do not allow for the carry forward of excess foreign tax. This means that all available FITO will need to be utilised in the year in which they arise. There will be no opportunity to carry them forward for use against future Australian tax on foreign income. Furthermore, there is a FITO limit. Where the total foreign income tax paid by a person is less than or equal to $1,000, the person is not required to calculate the FITO, i.e. the person's FITO will equal the foreign income tax paid on amounts included in the their assessable income. Where the total foreign income tax paid is more than $1,000, the person can choose to offset only $1,000 of foreign tax (and not formally calculate the FITO entitlement) or calculate the offset limit to determine the maximum FITO entitlement under section 770-75 of the ITAA 1997.