Standard format
The standard format deals with most but not necessarily all of the potential scenarios that a trustee may encounter.
The 2024 format shows most of the potential information that a trustee may need to provide to enable an individual investor to prepare their tax return. Contact ato-dmi@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 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. For instance, you may want to provide additional information for payments to other trusts that may provide statements to non-residents. You will find additional information specific for other entities, such as bare trusts or investor directed portfolio service (IDPS) like entities, in Attachment 1.
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 income year, 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 of MITs that have not elected into the AMIT regime, and trustees of CCIV sub-fund trusts that are not treated as an AMIT in an income year, 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 and trustees of attribution CCIV sub-fund trusts should apply relevant provisions of the income tax law in preparing the taxation information in the AMMA statement. In particular, 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 circumstances of the AMIT or attribution CCIV sub-fund trust, trustees 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 2024 statements are current as at May 2024.
Basic structure
The basic structure consists of 3 parts.
A trustee of a multi-class AMIT may make a choice under section 276-20 of the ITAA 1997 to treat each class as a separate AMIT for the purposes of Division 276 (multi-class election). Where a multi-class election has been made, the trustee must give an AMMA statement to the investor advising of their member components arising from the attribution of the trust components related to each class, and the name of the AMIT class should be identified preceding part A or in the accompanying letter.
A CCIV with more than one CCIV sub-fund trust must prepare separate AMMA statements for the investors in each of its attribution CCIV sub-fund trusts and separate SDS for the investors in each of its non-attribution CCIV sub-fund trusts. The statements for each of its sub-fund trusts should reflect the amounts referable to investors in that sub-fund trust.
Part A provides information about the details the trust holds about the investor. It provides a prompt for investors to update their details if they are incorrect.
Part B explains where amounts that are attributed or distributed are taken into account in completing the Tax return for individuals (supplementary section) 2024 for resident individual investors or myTax. Contact ato-dmi@ato.gov.au if there are other items that should be included.
For resident individual investors with straightforward circumstances, the information in part B should be sufficient to complete their tax return.
Part C explains the components for an attribution (AMMA statement) or a distribution (SDS). Two part Cs are provided as requirements for an AMMA statement differ from those of an SDS. The table format is optional.
The numbers inserted by way of example in part C may not always seem to reconcile. Where this happens, the guidance notes provide an explanation for the variation. If this arises in an AMMA statement or SDS prepared for an investor, the trustee may insert a note to explain the variation to avoid unnecessary enquiries from investors.
Some trustees provide a consolidated statement for investors. Where a trustee provides a consolidated statement, the trustee must also provide a separate statement for each trust listed in the consolidated statement that aligns with what is reported in the AIIR. For example, where there are 3 AIIRs for 3 trusts, there will be 3 statements included in the consolidated statement showing the components of the distribution or amounts that are attributed for each trust.
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