What is a Franked Tax Offset?
If you are credited or paid franked dividends or non-share dividends, your assessable income will include the dividend’s amount you were paid and the franking credit amount attached to the dividends. When you lodge your tax return, then you must have to include both amounts.
It can be utilized to minimize the tax liability from all sources or forms of income, as well as your taxable net capital gain.
Before diving into detail, let’s have an idea of franked dividends so you don’t get confused:
What Are Franked Dividends?
You buy a small piece of ownership of the company when you invest in shares. Being a shareholder, you receive a small part of the company’s profit that is paid to you, which is known as dividends.
Uses of Franking Tax Offset and Effect on Losses for Corporate Tax Entities
When an entity of corporate gets franked dividends, the receipt is unbiased from a tax angle. Because it is authorized to a franking tax offset for franking credit that is attached to the dividends.
The company can choose the amount of previous year losses they want to deduct, after first having offset losses against the net exempt income. The following are some restrictions on the previous year tax losses amount that an individual chooses to deduct:
- A company must avoid using any of its previous year tax losses if, in the current year, it has excess franking tax offset
- A company is not allowed to use the amount of previous year tax losses that can create excess franking tax offsets in the current year
These are anti-avoidance rules that prevent the company from using previous year losses and then making current year losses by turning excess franking tax offset into an equivalent tax loss.
Converting Excess Franking Tax Offsets into a Present Year Loss
A present year loss appears when both:
- The allowable deduction of tax-payer exceed their measurable income in the income year
- Their excess is higher than any net exempt income (NEI) for the year
The entity of corporate will have an excess franking offsets amount to the range/extent that its franking tax offset is exceeded its income tax responsibility. In this scenario, the corporate entity will turn the excess amount to identical to the amount of tax loss by dividing it by the CTR, i.e. corporate tax rate.
In the end, the converted tax loss will be grouped with any present year tax loss following the general provisions. This amount will be subtracted from the grouped loss amount, only if the corporate entity has any NEI. The resulted aggregate amount will become the tax loss for the income year that will the result of the current tax year loss.
Method Statements to Determine Tax Loss
The following are some method statements to determine a corporate tax entity’s present year tax loss. It can also help in determining excess franking credits and at what range they can be converted to tax losses and from part of the entity’s present year tax losses. The following calculation depends on the provision of the ITAA 1997.
Step 1: work out the present year tax loss by following the general provisions.
Converting the excess franking offsets into a tax loss by using the below approach:
- Calculating the franking tax offsets:
- From receiving franked distributions, add the amount of franking tax offset
- Include the venture capital tax offset amount
- Minus the amount of franking tax offset that is refundable tax offsets
The total of this calculation will be the result of the entity’s total franking offsets.
- Calculate the income tax amount:
- Minus the allowable deductions from assessable income. After this, apply the corporate tax rate
Step 2: Minimize the amount of income tax through all the tax offsets with the exception of the below tax offsets:
- Under (a), calculated franking tax offsets
- Offset liable to tax offset carry and forward rule
- Offsets liable to refundable tax offset rules
- Offset liable to franking deficit tax offset rules
But, don’t minimize the income tax by the given above tax offsets, but by all other offsets.
- Check out if there is excess franking offsets amount:
- Where the franking tax offsets amount is exceeded the amount of income tax measured at (b), the franking offsets amount is equal to the difference.
- Converting the excess franking offsets into a loss:
- The excess franking offset will be divided by the corporate tax rate to convert this excess into a tax loss.
Step 3: add the loss amount from step 1 & step 2.
If any, then add the loss amount under the general provision plus the amount of the tax loss from the converted excess franking offsets.
Step 4: minimize the loss amount determined at step 3 by the entity’s NEI (if any). If the outcome is a:
- Positive amount: the corporate tax entity is taken to possess a present year tax loss that is equivalent to that amount. The entity can carry forward its present year tax loss and any previous year tax loss to the upcoming income year.
- Negative or nil amount: the corporate tax entity doesn’t contain any present year tax loss. It will have to determine whether it has to deduct a previous year tax loss.
Limitations associated with Deducting Previous Year Tax Losses
A corporate tax entity that doesn’t contain any present year tax loss can choose to deduct previous year tax losses in an income year, liable to some limitations. An alternate option to this, it can choose not to deduct previous year losses so it can pay sufficient tax to frank its distributions, also liable to certain limitations.
The corporate tax entity can’t choose in how much previous year tax losses it can deduct where the sum of the deduction exceeds the entity’s total measurable income.
Limits to Previous Year Tax Losses an Entity can Opt for
Two limits are restricting when a corporate tax entity can select the previous year’s tax losses amount it applies. These constraints prevent the refreshing of the previous year tax losses into the present year tax losses. It affects the application of the tests for deductibility of the previous year tax losses.
Limits where an entity is not able to deduct previous year tax losses
| Limit | Description & Choice |
| Limit 1 | When there are excess franking offsets amounts- the choice will be limited to a nil amount. An entity needs to choose a nil amount if, neglecting tax losses, the entity will have excess franking offset amount for that year. The choice will be limited to a nil amount because the tax on taxable income has absorbed already by the franking tax offset. |
| Limit 2 | When there is no excess franking offset amount- the entity need not choose an amount of previous year losses that can lead to excess franking offsets. If neglecting tax losses, the entity will not contain excess franking offsets amount for that year, the entity need not choose an amount of prior-year tax losses that will produce excess franking offsets for that year. |
Checking Out the Extent of Previous Year Losses that can be Used
Limit 2 needs to be considered by the entity when checking out what the previous year losses amount can be used against income tax payable. To constraint the losses deducted, limit 2 will apply so that excess franking offsets are not produced to neglect refreshing previous year tax losses to present year losses.
Conclusion
After reading this blog, you’ll know about franking tax offsets and corresponding effects on losses for the entities of the corporate. You’ll get to know about the limits where a corporate entity would not be able to deduct previous year tax losses. Despite this, you’ll know method statements to determine tax loss.
Apart from the above information, if you want to seek help from an accounting firm, then you can contact Reliable Melbourne Accountants to get quality and reliable services.