Yearly Archives: 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…

ATO kicks back on Centrelink’s ‘robodebt’ practice of collecting these purported debts from welfare recipient’s tax refunds

The Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs took the unusual step of making public the responses of a number of parties, to its questions on notice about the legality of Centrelink’s ‘robodebt’ compliance program. This included sensitive emails, between the ATO and DHS/SA, which the ATO provided on 24 Jan 2020. See below for a…

Treasury Laws Amendment (Combating Illegal Phoenixing) Bill 2019 passes Parliament with Senate amendment for 5 year review – attacking ‘creditor-defeating dispositions’, collecting GST estimates and withholding GST refunds

On 5 February 2020, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Combating Illegal Phoenixing) Bill 2019 finally passed both houses of Parliament after the Lower House agreed to amendments by the opposition in the Senate, requiring a review of the operation of the Act in 5 years. See the Tax Technical article about this Bill being introduced into Parliament.…

Treasury Laws Amendment (Reuniting More Superannuation) Bill 2020 introduced – Eligible rollover funds to exit super industry by 30 June 2021

The Government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Reuniting More Superannuation) Bill 2020, into Parliament (the House of Reps) on Thur 6.2.2020.  This proposes amendments to facilitate the closure of eligible rollover funds (ERFs) by 30 June 2021. On 13.12.2019, the Treasurer the Government would introduce this legislation (see related TT article). See below for a summary of this Bill.…

An EU problem of shareholders getting a double refund of underlying tax, from 2006 to 2011, worth the euro equivalent of $A90 billion – the role of morality in legal interpretation

On Friday 7 February 2020, The Tax Institute’s Senior Tax Counsel: Bob Deutsch, published his weekly Report in the Institute’s TaxVine (#4), entitled “CUM-EX TRADES: Immoral, illegal or none of the above?”. This is an article about an EU problem of shareholders getting a double refund of underlying tax, from 2006 to 2011, worth the…

DCT v Cutili Invest 88 Pty Ltd – interlocutory ‘freezing orders’ over the taxpayer assets, made ‘until further order’, did NOT automatically end on final judgment

On 4 February 2020, the Federal Court (Steward J) handed down a judgement, that a taxpayer has been unsuccessful in arguing that a freezing, order over its assets, was discharged when substantive judgments were entered into over the disputed debt. See below for a summary of the case. [Tax Month – February 2020]

Coal of Queensland Pty Ltd v Innovation and Science Australia – coal surveys, drilling and analysis were were not ‘core’ R&D

On 6 February 2020, the AAT decided that certain of the taxpayer’s activities were not ‘core’ R&D activates, but rather normal prospecting. See below for a summary of the case. [Tax Month – February 2020]     A coal mining company has failed to convince the AAT that certain activities designed to make extracting coal…