The AAT has affirmed the disallowance of objections against amended and default assessments issued against 6 taxpayers from the same family in respect of undisclosed income of family members. The matter involved unexplained moneys flowing through family bank accounts between 2003 and 2008 years, including sums paid from an overseas business arrangement, as well as…
The Federal Court has held that the taxpayers had no right to appeal from the original ex-parte proceeding in Oswal v FCT[2013] FCA 745 in which the taxpayers unsuccessfully sought a declaration from the Court that the decision of a trustee of a discretionary trust to exercise a special power of appointment to make 2…
On 15 August 2014, the High Court released the results of the following applications for special leave to appeal: Chemical Trustee Limited v DCT– the High Court refused the taxpayer special leave to appeal against the decision of the Full Federal Court in Chemical Trustee Limited v DCT [2014] FCAFC 27. In that case, the Full Federal…
The Minister for Small Business has advised that the Government has “settled on a model with real powers for the transition of the Small Business Commissioner into the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman”. The main aim of the Ombudsman is to make it easier for small businesses to access assistance, including general business advice.…
Treasury on Wed 27.8.2014, released for comment exposure draft legislation which proposes to: simplify the tax laws by: (i) consolidating duplicated taxation administration provisions contained in various taxation Acts into a single set of provisions in Sch 1 to the TAA; (ii) repealing spent or redundant taxation laws; and (iii) moving longstanding regulations into the primary…
M o r g a n’ s T a x M o n t h – August 2014 Developments – This is a collection of developments in Australian tax law and practice that occurred in August 2014 and which aims at being of relevance to tax lawyers.* F John Morgan A member of the Victorian…
In a major address in Perth, Secretary to the Treasury, Dr Martin Parkinson, said “it is hard to overstate the need for reforming the tax system”. At the same time, he says that if Australia’s public finances are not placed on a sustainable footing, tax reform becomes more difficult as time passes. The Government has…
The Commonwealth Bank on Fri 11.7.2014, announced that former High Court Judge Ian Callinan has been appointed to head up the Bank’s independent Review Panel as part of its Open Advice Review program following the recently released report of the Senate Economics References Committee into the performance of ASIC. The Committee said its report examined in…
A motion moved by Senators Dastyari (ALP) and Whish-Wilson (Greens) for the disallowance of the Corporations Amendment (Streamlining Future of Financial Advice) Regulation 2014 was late Tue 15.7.2014 defeated in the Senate by 34 votes to 31. Those regs will now stand although the Government has announced that, following discussions it had with the Palmer…
The Corporations Amendment (Streamlining Future of Financial Advice) Regulation 2014 was tabled in the Senate Thur 10.7.2014. This followed a vote in the Senate requiring the tabling of the Regulation. It is a disallowable instrument which the Senate can now vote on. The Regulation was registered on 30 June 2014 to give effect to the Government’s proposed…