Tax Laws Amendment (2012 Measures No. 6) Act 2013 (84 of 2013)

Schedule 1   Tax treatment of native title benefits

Part 1   Main amendments

Income Tax Assessment Act 1997

3   After section 59-45

Insert:

59-50 Native title benefits

(1) To the extent that a *native title benefit would otherwise be included in your assessable income, it is not assessable income and is not *exempt income if you are an *Indigenous person or an *Indigenous holding entity.

(2) To the extent that an amount, or other benefit, arising directly or indirectly from a *native title benefit would otherwise be included in your assessable income, it is not assessable income and is not *exempt income if you are an *Indigenous person or an *Indigenous holding entity.

(3) Neither subsection (1) nor (2) applies to an amount, or benefit, to the extent that it:

(a) is for the purposes of meeting the provider's administrative costs; or

(b) is remuneration or consideration for the provision of goods or services.

(4) Subsection (2) does not apply to an amount, or benefit, to the extent that it arises directly or indirectly:

(a) from so much of:

(i) the *native title benefit; or

(ii) an amount, or benefit, arising directly or indirectly from the native title benefit;

as is not *non-assessable non-exempt income of an entity because of this section; or

(b) from an entity investing any or all of:

(i) the native title benefit; or

(ii) an amount, or benefit, arising directly or indirectly from the native title benefit.

(5) A native title benefit is an amount, or *non-cash benefit, that:

(a) arises under:

(i) an agreement made under an Act of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory, or under an instrument made under such an Act; or

(ii) an ancillary agreement to such an agreement;

to the extent that the amount or benefit relates to an act that would extinguish *native title or that would otherwise be wholly or partly inconsistent with the continued existence, enjoyment or exercise of native title; or

(b) is compensation determined in accordance with Division 5 of Part 2 of the Native Title Act 1993.

Note 1: Agreements that can be covered by paragraph (a) include:

(a) indigenous land use agreements (within the meaning of the Native Title Act 1993); and

(b) an agreement of the kind mentioned in paragraph 31(1)(b) of that Act; and

(c) recognition and settlement agreements (within the meaning of the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Vic.)).

Note 2: Paragraph (a) does not require a determination of native title under the Native Title Act 1993.

(6) An Indigenous holding entity is:

(a) a *distributing body; or

(b) a trust, if the beneficiaries of the trust can only be *Indigenous persons or distributing bodies.