Where appropriate, individual issues in this issues register include a reference to a public ruling which is related to the relevant issue. In some cases, the issue is itself labelled as a public ruling for the purposes of section 105-60 of Schedule 1 of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA). Where an issue in this issue register simply sets out the way the law applies, rather than dealing substantially with a question of legal interpretation, we have added to the item the description 'non-interpretative'.

Issues in the register that are labelled as a public ruling for the purposes of section 105-60 of Schedule 1 of the TAA, are treated from 1 July 2010 as a public ruling under Division 358 of Schedule 1 of the TAA. This means that these issues continue to have effect as public rulings even though section 105-60 has been repealed.

A public ruling is an expression of the Commissioner's opinion about the way in which a relevant provision applies, or would apply, to entities generally or to a class of entities in relation to a particular scheme or a class of schemes.

If you rely on issues in the register that are a ruling, we must apply the law to you in the way set out in the ruling (unless we are satisfied that the ruling is incorrect and disadvantages you, in which case we may apply the law in a way that is more favourable for you - provided we are not prevented from doing so by a time limit imposed by the law). You will be protected from having to pay any underpaid tax, penalty or interest in respect of the matters covered by this ruling if it turns out that it does not correctly state how the relevant provision applies to you.

Issues in the register that have not been labelled as public rulings, constitute written guidance. If you follow our information on these issues and it turns out to be incorrect, or it is misleading and you make a mistake as a result, we must still apply the law correctly. If that means you owe us money, we must ask you to pay it but we will not charge you a penalty. Also, if you acted reasonably and in good faith we will not charge you interest. If correcting the mistake means we owe you money, we will pay it to you. We will also pay you any interest you are entitled to.