The standard format does not purport to deal with all possible scenarios a fund manager may encounter. Where the funds' circumstances are outside those shown in the standard format, additional information or requirements need to be considered. For example, attributed foreign income may need to be included.
Fund managers may delete lines that are not relevant to the particular circumstances. For example, if there is no indexed capital gain, the lines for an indexed capital gain may be deleted. Also, if there is no foreign income, Part B may be deleted but it would be recommended that a note be included advising that Part B is not shown as it is not applicable.
The format is based on the standard information needs of a resident individual unit holder in a unit trust operated by the funds management industry. The circumstances are relevant to those unit holders holding units on capital account and where distributions labelled as 'non assessable amounts' are not capital gains or ordinary income of the unit holder. It is also assumed that the unit holder is a resident for the whole of the year of income.
Fund managers should apply relevant provisions of the income tax law in preparing the taxation information in the distribution statement, in particular Division 6 of Part III of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936).
The 2007 Standard distribution statement is current as at 18 June 2007 and is issued at this time to enable the necessary systems changes to be implemented by the fund managers prior to 30 June 2007 for 2007 income year reporting. If subsequent changes are necessary we will discuss these with industry bodies.