In this the Tax Institute’s Member Newsletter: TaxVine No. 17 (20.5.22), Senior Advocate, Robyn Jacobson, CTA, explains the new client verification guidelines that will impose new obligations on tax practitioners in an effort to address identity theft. Strengthening client verification What is identity theft? Identity theft is insidious. It can wreak devastating financial, social…
In the Tax Institute’s Member Newsletter: TaxVine No. 19 (3.6.22) Kym Bailey, CTA, Chair of The Tax Institute’s National Superannuation Technical Committee (Committee), recaps on the changes to superannuation effective from 1 July 2022 and summarises the key priorities for the Committee over the coming year. In the last weeks of the previous government, several superannuation changes…
In the Tax Institute’s Members Newsletter: TaxVine No. 18, their General Manager of Tax Policy and Advocacy (TPA), Scott Treatt, CTA, reflects on the outcome of the Federal election and the implications from a tax policy perspective. How is our Parliament shaping up? We now know that, not only is Anthony Albanese as Australia’s 31st…
The ‘bullets’ below shows the seats that are not up for election, under the “Continuing” column, along with those each party has won and is likely to win, according to the ABC elections computer. 40 of the 76 Senate seats are being decided at this election – 2 of 40 seats remain in doubt 2 weeks…
The ATO has issued the attached media release highlighting our work prioritising support and assistance for taxpayers with tax and super debts. However, this really marks a move away from COVID accomodating latitude to ‘firmer debt collection action’ – what it calls ‘normalising its preferred approach. Notwithstanding this (or even because of this) the ATO…
On 4 May 2022 the High Court delivered a judgment of the power of State Tribunals to consider constitutional matters. Without considering the merit of constitutional defence, the Tasmanian Tribunal concluded that it would be exercising judicial power on a Federal Matter, and dismissed the matter, on the basis it lacked jurisdiction. On appeal, the…
In August 2020 I reported that a taxpayer: Stuart Hamilton, was appealing the decision of the AAT, that he was not exempt from tax under the International Organisations (Privileges and Immunities) Act 1963 [IOPIA], on the basis of the 2017 High Court case of CofT v Jayasinghe [2017] HCA 26) (see related TT article). You would be forgiven for thinking…
There is an ‘interesting’ issue about how a new bread of State ‘gains’ taxes on land gains, sit with Federal taxes on gains of most asset types. The new bread of State taxes are regimes to capture part of the gain arising from rezoning of land. The key issue is whether one exaction can be…
The ATO has had something of a ‘thorny’ relationship with Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) – bleating about it often and challenging claims in the courts too little. They finally challenged the PwC claim in the Federal Court and, to the extent that the case has run its course, won in a majority of the claims…
The ATO stirred up something of a hornets nest, in February 2022, when it released draft guidance material on the operation of some fairly draconian provisions in s100A of the 1936 Tax Act, originally directed at so called ‘trust stripping’ but which were drafted so widely as to become a danger to many (see related TT article).…