The Law Institute of Victoria made its own submission to the independent review of the Tax Practitioners Board and its enabling legislation, saying that it was concerned that tax agents appeared to be breaching the prohibition on unqualified legal practice. They did so in terms parallel to my own submission, about this same problem [see…
On 31.5.19, in the Tax Institute’s weekly TaxVine publication, the Institute’s Chair of the Tax Institute’s SME & Tax Practitioner Technical Committee (and partners at BDO): Mark Molesworth, reported on tax measures that the re-elected Government had announced, but had not enacted, at the time that Parliament rose for the election. See below for the details.…
On 24.5.19, the Tax Institute’s Tax Counsel: Stephanie Cardes, reported, in their weekly publication: TaxVine, on the tax policies, which the unexpectedly re-elected Government, took to the election. They were few, and set out in the April 2019 budget. See below, for greater detail. FJM 2.6.19 [Tax Month – May 2019] …
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will commission a review of the retirement income system, including the interaction of superannuation, government pensions and, potentially, taxation. This would include a review of the policy of superannuation (deferred remuneration and national savings) and reviewing union influence in Industry Superannuation. See below for the details. FJM 2.6.19 [Tax Month – May…
On 31.5.19, the ATO advised that a 56-year-old New South Wales man, Mr Peter Garven, was sentenced in the Sydney District Court to three years and three months jail for fraudulently obtaining and attempting to obtain more than $200,000 from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), on 30 May 2019. Mr Garven was also ordered to repay…
The Commissioner has appealed to the Full Federal Court against the decision of Logan J in Racing Queensland Board v CofT [2019] FCA 509.
See below for summary of the Court’s decision (the subject of the appeal)
FJM 2.6.19
On 10 May 2019, the Tax Practitioner’s Board (Board) issued a draft Practice Note TPB(PN) D40/2019 – giving guidance to tax agents, that register with the Board, on status of ‘Letters of engagement’, their relevance, roll and the matters the Board thought relevant to include. On 31 May 2019, the Law Council of Australia (LCA)…
The ATO has been consulting on ‘improving’ lawyers ‘scope of engagement’ agreements – to deal with, what they see, as problems with ‘legal professional privilege’ (LPP) claims. Effectively, they misunderstand who the privilege belongs to, and they presume to influence the terms on which lawyers are retained by clients. This idea got legs in the 30…
The National Tax Liaison Group met on 30 November 2018, and subsequent to that, the ATO issued a ‘Key Messages’ document, which covered each of the items, including: Independent Review for entities that are not ‘large’ or ‘small’; Digital economy; Black economy; Inspector-General of Taxation’s Review of Fraud Control Management; and ‘Reporting entities’ and who should prepare General…
There is an aspect of the State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2019 that was not mentioned in the Victorian budget, and which is causing consternation in development circles, relating to an entire new Part, dealing with ‘economic entitlements’, which goes further than the pretext justified (namely: reversing the effect of the 2016 Victorian Supreme Court…