Are you carrying on a business?

Supporting document requirements for private rulings

This page lists the documents and information we usually need to process private rulings about the subject displayed.

Please send the following documents and information with your private ruling application form.

Are you carrying on a business?

We cannot generally provide a ruling about future years unless you have a high degree of certainty about how you will conduct your activities.

• When your activity commenced.
• A description of your activity.
• A copy of your business plan.
• A copy of profit and loss statements (that is, income and expenses).
• Projected profit and loss statements showing how you intend to make a profit from your activity.
• Details of equipment and facilities you use in your activity (including depreciation schedules).
• The records you keep in respect of your activity.
• Any qualifications or expertise you possess in respect of your activity.
• Details of any relevant organisations you are a member of (include any relevant publications you subscribe to).
• Any professional or expert advice you have sought in setting up or conducting your activity.
• Copies of any relevant licences, government approvals, planning permits etc. you have obtained or applied for.
• Your main clientele (for example, general public, friends or workmates)
• How you advertise your products or services.
• How much time you spend on this activity each week.
• Whether you are engage in employment or another business activity and the amount of time you spend on these activities each week.

The information you provide will help us address the business indicators at paragraph 13 of Taxation Ruling TR 1997/11 - Income tax: am I carrying on a business of primary production? You may wish to provide your comments regarding these indicators with your application. Detailed information about each indicator is contained later in the ruling.

If your activity is one of share trading or other share market activity, please also provide the following information and documents.

• A description of you trading strategy and why you expect it will result in a profit.
• A copy of you trading transactions for the relevant period.
• Details of the amount of capital you have had invested at different times (giving an indication of the maximum and minimum amounts).
• The amount of capital you have available and the sources of your capital.
• The information you provide will assist us in addressing the business indicators at paragraph 13 of Taxation Ruling TR 97/11. You may wish to provide additional comments regarding these indicators and read the further detailed comment on each indicator contained later in the ruling.

Further information for share market activities is available in the Carrying on a business of share trading fact sheet.