On 15 February 2011 Treasury released an Exposure Draft of legislation allowing the Commissioner to retain refunds of GST (and other taxes) pending verification.  My initial analysis of the Exposure Draft can be accessed here.

The date for submissions has closed and notwithstanding the very short time period to make submissions, some 12 public submissions were made (many of them taking issue with the short time period in which to respond). A review of the submissions shows that the proposed legislation is viewed by taxpayers as being very controversial and that changes need to be made to the proposed legislation.

The submissions are outlined below and each can be accessed by clicking on the name:

• Alandal Consulting
• BDO
• Corporate Accountants
• CPA Australia
• Dominion Private Clients
• Financial Services Council
• Mills Oakley
• PKF
• Property Council of Australia
• The Institute of Chartered Accountants
• The Tax Institute and Law Council of Australia
• Waverley Council