Activities


The Association has been heavily involved in a number of activities in its twenty plus year history although the two most important ones were the submission of proposals in relation to:

(a) GST treatment for surety products and services, and
(b) the proposed CLERP6 reforms now comprised in the Financial Services Reform Act:

(A)GST – The GST project commenced in 2000 and concluded following the final acceptance of the Association’s submission by the ATO in 2006. The Association’s lobbying and submission activity spanned an initial submission on the treatment of GST for surety products, and later assistance to the ATO during a later review of the ATO’s initial private rulings granted in favour of the Association’s members. As a result, there is now a public ruling available for all surety products. The cost of producing the submissions was funded by all members, thus saving each member the individual cost of producing separate submissions. In fact a number of UK based insurers used the Association’s Australian GST papers as a basis for their submission to their own taxing authority.
  
(B)FSRA / CLERP 6 The Association prepared submissions in relation to the proposed CLERP 6 regulatory reforms, including the appearance before the relevant Senate Sub-Committee in May 2001. Many of the Association’s recommendations were accepted and incorporated into the subsequent Financial Services Reform Act legislation.