Christmas may have come early for small businesses this year with the Federal Government’s recent suite of tax reform including announcements relating to standardising the eligibility criteria for the various small business concessions and alleviating Division 7A problems respectively. Furthermore, late last week, the Government introduced into Parliament the long awaited legislation dealing with the accessibility of the small business capital gains tax concessions. 
 
Tax Counsel for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, Ali Noroozi said that following the Institute’s submission to the Board of Taxation in February 2005 and extensive consultation with the Office of the Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer as well as the Department of Treasury, the Institute is pleased with the outcomes, which include: 
 

• Replacing the controlling individual 50 per cent test with a significant individual 20 per cent test that can be satisfied either directly or indirectly through one or more interposed entities;
 

• Changing the net asset value test by allowing provisions for certain leave, unearned income and tax liabilities;
 

• Providing the taxpayer with the choice to roll over the whole or part of the capital gain;
 

• Giving deceased estates access to the CGT concessions on assets disposed of within two years of death; and
 

• Introducing an alternative to direct ownership where the capital gains tax event happens to share in a company or interest in a trust.