ATO to issue determinations over Myer sale

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is preparing its final view on tax issues arising from its stoush with private equiteer Texas Pacific Group (TPG).

The dispute is over the $1.5 billion profits made from the sale of the Myer department stores.

Almost a year since the ATO took unprecedented court action against TPG in a bid to freeze the company's bank accounts.

The ATO believed the Myer profits should be deemed income rather than a capital gain, and therefore tax should have been paid. It slapped a $678 million tax bill on the private equity firm. TPG took the stance that it had made a capital gain and, as foreign companies were exempt from paying capital gains tax, they did not have a liability.

The ATO was set to publish its final determinations in May, but then decided to indefinitely postpone the decision, causing widespread concern about the uncertainty surrounding the issues. Final determinations  will be issued in several weeks.

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