Jason Barnes

At the time of its passage through Parliament, concerns were raised about various aspects of the CMPTI (and the hydrogen production tax incentive that was also established by the Act). While many of those concerns remain to be addressed, Treasury has issued an exposure draft of the Income Tax Assessment (1997 Act) Amendment (Critical Minerals) Regulations 2025 (Regulations).

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released draft Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2025/D4, which sets out when the ATO will consider certain cross-border software payments to be ‘low risk’ for royalty withholding tax purposes (Draft PCG). The Draft PCG is a welcome development and introduces a two-zone risk framework (white and green), which offers a practical ‘safe harbour’ for taxpayers that fall within these categories.