The ATO has released a draft guideline on how they will apply the new “similar business test” to supplement the existing “same business test” used for testing whether a company can utilise an earlier year tax loss.
The draft guideline says the similar business test will operate in a way that is comparable to the same business test, and that the overall business of a company must satisfy the similar business test to access losses. The focus remains on the identity of a business, as well as continuity of business activities to generate assessable income.