Daily Archives: March 1, 2020

Burton v CofT – High Court has refused special leave, to the taxpayer, to appeal the decision giving him only a 50% ‘foreign tax credit’ on a capital gain taxed in the US

The High Court has refused the taxpayer’s application for special leave to appeal from the decision of the Full Federal Court decision in Burton v CofT [2019] FCAFC 141. See below for further details. [Tax Month – February 2020]

Vic Transfer Duty – Trusts with ‘foreign’ beneficiaries subject to an 8% uplift of market value – changes in the Victorian SRO’s treatment of discretionary trusts – ‘foreign beneficiaries’ now must be excluded in the deed (effective 1 March 2020)

Russell Kennedy Lawyers say that it is ‘Now is the time to review your discretionary trusts’. From 1 March 2020, you’ll need to have a clause, in your trust deed, excluding foreign beneficiaries. See below for an explanation as to why. [Tax Month – February 2020]

GST anniversary: a time to celebrate – or consider a ‘Retail Sales Tax’, which is simpler and has greater integrity – as there are no refunds of input tax credits and no compliance & payments at every stage of supply chain

On 14 February 2020, the Tax Institute’s Senior Tax Counsel: Bob Deutsch, wrote his weekly Report in TaxVine (No5), titled: GST anniversary: a time to celebrate? See below for the details. [Tax Month – February 2020]  

Moltoni v CofT – Commissioner’s refusal to revoke DPO upheld – taxpayer bankrupted over $36m tax liability arising from him being personally assessed on a $21m payment from a company the infamous Mr Oswal controlled to a BVI company the taxpayer controlled

On 11 February 2020, the AAT upheld the Commissioner’s decision refusing to revoke a ‘Departure Prohibition Order’ (DPO) imposed because he was assessed to tax resulting in $36m in tax liabilities, related to Mr Oswal, who departed from Australia, with substantial funds shortly before an ammonia plant, he ran, collapsed in Western Australia. See below…

Payroll Tax (Vic) – Optical Superstore – High Court refuses leave to appeal the Commissioner’s win in Victorian Supreme Court Court of Appeal

The Victorian Supreme Court Court of Appeal had overturned the taxpayer’s win at first instance, and the High Court has refused the taxpayer’s application for special leave to appeal in Comr of State Revenue v The Optical Superstore Pty Ltd : [2019] VSCA 197. See below for further detail. [Tax Month – February 2020]

CofT v Travelex Limited – in a test case the FFC held that taxpayer was entitled to interest on the refund of overpaid GST – back to 2009 rather than 2012 under the detail in the RBA provisions

On 14 February 2020, the Full Federal Court (Kenny, Derrington and Steward JJ) dismissed the Commissioner’s appeal against a 2018 decision concerning the payment of interest on a RBA surplus that arose where the taxpayer had overstated its GST liability. See below for a summary of the case. [Tax Month – February 2020]  

Coal of Queensland Pty Ltd v Innovation and Science Australia – R&D – surveys and drilling activities by coal miner were ‘ prospecting, exploring or drilling for minerals’ and not ‘core R&D activities’ under s355-25(2)(b)

On 6 February 2020, the AAT affirmed the Innovation and Science Australia decision that a coal mining drilling and survey activities were ‘prospecting, exploring or drilling for minerals’ and therefore carved out of definition of ‘core R&D activities, under s355-25(2)(b) of the ITAA97. See below for a summary of the case. [Tax Month – February…