The standard format attempts to deal with most but not necessarily all of the potential scenarios that a trustee may encounter.
The 2017 format attempts to show most of the potential information that a trustee may need to record to enable an individual investor to prepare their tax return. Contact AIIRspecificationupdate@ato.gov.au if in these instructions:
- you find omissions
- the trust's circumstances are outside those shown in the standard format
- you have other feedback.
Trustees may personalise the format, for example by adding headers and deleting lines that are not relevant to their particular circumstances. Trustees may also add additional information to assist investors in understanding the AMMA statement or SDS. The format is based on the standard information needs of a resident individual and other investors in a trust operated by the funds management industry. It also allows trusts to provide statements to non-residents. Additional information specific for other entities such as bare trusts or IDPS-like entities has been included in Attachment 1.
The presentation of information in the statement addresses the circumstances of investors who hold membership interests on capital account and for whom distributions labelled as 'non-assessable amounts' are not themselves statutory income or ordinary income of the investor. The investor is assumed to be a resident for the whole of the year of income, unless otherwise indicated.
The statement aligns with the information provided on the AIIR which is used to pre-fill information into the tax returns of resident individuals. Attachment 2 shows the AIIR reference number for those fields on the statement that map to the AIIR.
Trustees that have not elected into the new AMIT regime should apply relevant provisions of the income tax law in preparing the taxation information in the SDS, in particular Division 6 of Part III of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936).
Trustees of MITs that have elected into the AMIT regime should apply relevant provisions of the income tax law in preparing the taxation information in the AMMA statement. In particular, these trustees should consider the requirements of Subdivision 276-H of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) concerning AMMA statements to ensure they comply with those requirements. Depending on the particular circumstances of the AMIT, the trustee may need to include additional information in the AMMA statement.
Trustees should carefully consider the specific facts and circumstances (including any specific legislative regime) applying to the trust, especially in determining the nature of distribution components or member components for attribution purposes, for example, the tax character of gains on assets advised to investors.
The 2017 statements are current as at 7 June 2017.