Introduction

The Taxation (Annual Rates, Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill was introduced in March 2004. It received its first reading in Parliament on 7 April, its second reading on 21 October and its third reading on 14 December 2004. The two resulting Acts received Royal assent on 21 December 2004, the date of enactment.

The Taxation (Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 amends the following:

• Income Tax Act 2004
• Income Tax Act 1994
• Income Tax Act 1976
• Tax Administration Act 1994
• Goods and Services Tax Act 1985
• Taxation Review Authorities Act 1994
• Taxation Review Authorities Regulations 1998.

The Taxation (Annual Rates of Income Tax 2004-05) Act 2004 confirms the income tax rates for the 2004-05 income year.

Some amendments make corresponding changes to the Income Tax Act 1994 and the Income Tax Act 2004, which comes into force on 1 April 2005. When this occurs we have cited the corresponding section numbers of both Acts, to assist readers of this commentary on the new legislation.

As part of the progressive rewrite of income tax law, the Income Tax Act 2004 introduced rewritten Parts A to E of the 1994 Act and re-enacted the remaining Parts of that Act. This means the section numbers in the two Acts differ in the first five Parts, but are the same from Part F on if merely re-enacted in the 2004 Act. If, however, provisions were moved to later Parts in the course of rewriting Parts A to E, they were given new section numbers in the 2004 Act.