As noted on this site earlier today, on 2 November 2011 the ATO published draft GSTR 2011/D4 dealing with financial assistance payments.

On my first reading of the document, I consider the following issues to be noteworthy:

• the draft ruling helpfully seeks to deal with matters not directly covered by GSTR 2000/11, such as sponsorship and tripartite agreements;
• the draft ruling appears to take a narrower view on what constitutes a taxable supply for a financial assistance payment than in GSTR 2000/11; and
• the draft ruling sets out detailed transitional rules which appear to envisage the potential for refund claims for those taxpayers who have relied on the broader scope of taxable supply in GSTR 2000/11 (both in respect of over-paid GST and under-claimed input tax credits).

A page outlining my comments on the draft ruling can be accessed here.