A private ruling is a written expression of opinion by the Commissioner about the way in which tax laws and other specified laws administered by the Commissioner would apply to, or be administered in relation to, an entity in relation to a specified scheme.
An application for a private ruling must be made in the approved form and in accordance with Division 357 and 359 of Schedule 1 of the TAA 1953.
The required information and documentation that accompany a private ruling request must be sufficient for the Commissioner to make the private ruling and include:
- the entity to whom the ruling is to apply
- the facts describing the relevant scheme or circumstance
- relevant supporting documents, such as transaction documents
- issues and questions raised that relate to the relevant provision to which the ruling relates
- your argument and references on these questions.
The Commissioner may request additional information to make a ruling. The Commissioner will then consider the request and either issue or, in certain limited circumstances, refuse to issue a private ruling.
The trustee may apply for a ruling affecting a member's income tax affairs with the written consent of the member.
Publications
To further improve the administration of the private rulings system, the Tax Office now publishes all notices of private rulings for public record. These publications are on this website. Private rulings are published in an edited form to safeguard taxpayer privacy.
Private ruling applicants are invited to provide a statement detailing any information they believe should be removed from the published version of their private ruling.
If the information the applicant wants removed is more than simply names and addresses, reasons why publication of this information will breach the applicant's privacy should be provided.
Before publication, applicants can comment on the edited version of their private ruling.