On 14 November 2018, the High Court unanimously held that an employee manager, of a ‘bonded warehouse’ could be liable for duty (on goods stolen from that warehouse) as, relevantly, having ‘possession, custody or control‘ of dutiable goods. The Court held that it was not only the bonded warehouse licence holder who could have this…
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Black Economy Taskforce Measures No 2) Bill 2018 and Excise Tariff Amendment (Collecting Tobacco Duties at Manufacture) Bill 2018 were both passed the Senate on 15.11.2018 and received Royal Assent, on 29.11.2018, as Acts No. 141 & 137 of 2018, respectively. The Black Economy Taskforce (No 2) Bill will: amend the ITAA97…
On 7 November 2018, the Federal Court ordered that a decision of the Tax Practitioners Board (Board), to not investigate Mr Mendonca’s complaint, against the registration of two tax agents, was affected by ‘jurisdictional error’ and ordered that the decision be quashed. The Board conceded this and undertook, to the Court, revisit the complaint and…
The ATO reported that on 14 November 2018, a Perth stockbroker was sentenced to five years’ jail, for committing large-scale tax fraud, while living in the United States more than a decade ago. Gary Parsons, 53, was extradited from the US, in 2017, following a decade-long joint investigation by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Australian Federal…
On Wednesday 14 November 2-018, the Treasurer and Minister for Small Business issued a joint Media Release announcing 2 measures to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) get loan and equity funding. They are: To establish the ‘Australian Business Securitisation Fund’ with $2b of Federal funds. To establishment of an ‘Australian Business Growth Fund’ that would…
The taxpayer has appealed to the Federal Court against the decision in Douglass v CofT [2008] AATA 3729. The AAT had ruled that income received for engineering services was subject to the personal services income (PSI) rules, as the partnership business did not pass the “results test” in s87-18 of the ITAA97 (ie principally that at…
The Treasurer and Minister for Small Business made a joint announcement on 13 November 2018 that the Government was proposing to improve the ’employee share scheme’ (ESS) regime in a number of ways (referring primarily to the taxation regime in Div 83A in the ITAA97). The most important part of the announcement was that the…
Two taxpayers (Caratti & Bazzo) have failed to convince the Federal Court that it should make orders preventing the Commissioner taking recovery action while their challenge to the tax assessments remained on foot. The taxpayers argued that the ATO was bound by the terms of a deed agreed by the parties under which the ATO…
A taxpayer has been unsuccessful in seeking a stay of proceedings brought by the ATO to recover a $14m tax liability pending a determination of the objections to the assessments. The facts were these. The taxpayer did not lodge income tax returns for the years ending 30 June 2008 to 30 June 2010 as she contended that she was…
The Victorian Supreme Court has held that payments, for ‘roadside assistance’, that RACV contracted out, to the Taxpayer, which it then subcontracted, were not subject to payroll tax, under the ‘relevant contractor’ provisions. In summary, the facts were these: The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) provided ‘roadside assistance’ to its Roadside Members – with varying…