The Supreme Court of Victoria has dismissed the Commissioner of State Revenue’s appeal and found that distributions to Optometrist Entities were not “payments” within the meaning of the payroll tax acts because the Optometrist Entities beneficially owned the funds which were to be distributed to them under the respective express trusts. The Optical Superstore Pty…
The High Court has refused Sandini’s application for special leave to appeal from the decision of the Full Federal Court in Ellison v Sandini Pty Ltd [2018] FCAFC 44. The Full Federal Court had held that that Sandini was not entitled to s 126-5 (marriage breakdown roll-over relief), by operation of s 126-15, because: the 21 September 2010 orders…
The Federal Court has confirmed that the onus is on the taxpayer to prove that there is no fraud or evasion. The taxpayer challenged an AAT decision (Nguyen and FCT [2016] AATA 1041) that the taxpayer had failed to discharge her burden under s 14ZZK(b)(i) of the TAA of showing that amended assessments for the 2008,…
In May 2016, the Board commenced a self-initiated review of the current individual tax residency rules. In the course of it’s inquiries, the Board spoke to English taxing authorities (HMRC) about their experience (see Tax Technical articles: FOI notes of HMRC call, Tax Month article on FOI document). It found that that the current individual tax…
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Accelerated Depreciation for Small Business Entities) Bill 2018 having been introduced on 24 May 2018; referred to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on the same date, which reported on 30 May 2018 (unanimously supporting passage); was introduced into the Senate on 25 June 2018; sat in abeyance over 1 July 2018…
On 20 September 2018, The Irish Times reported that EU countries could agree a new short-term digital sales tax to apply to many of the major tech firms before the end of the year, according to Pascal Saint-Amans, the OECD’s leading tax expert, whilst speaking at the PwC/Irish Times tax summit, in Dublin (on 20 September 2018). Mr…
The Victorian Court of Appeal has, by majority (Niall J dissenting), granted a taxpayer leave to appeal; but then dismissed its appeal, concerning land tax assessments, in respect of Crown lands, within the alpine resorts, at Falls Creek and Mount Hotham, which were used and occupied by wholly-owned subsidiaries of the taxpayer. The background was this. The…
Treasury has released a document, released under Freedom of Information, relating to a Board of Tax, call it had the UK Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in October 2016, relating to their experience with their move to a ‘Statutory Rules Test’ for residency of individuals in the UK. [See Tax Technical – Tax Article] This is…
On 14 September 2018, Treasury released a document, under Freedom of Information law, relating to a Board of Tax Residency call it had with UK HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in October 2016 relating to English change to ‘Statutory Rules Test’ for residency of individuals. I have reproduced the document, in full, below, for historical reference. FJM…
On 21 September 2018, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer: Mr Andrew Leigh, announced that a Labor Government would clamp down on unsubstantiated allowances for travel to tax havens and target ‘passport shopping’ through measures raising more than $9 million over the forward estimates”. Travel Allowances to Tax Havens: Mr Leigh said that under Australian tax law, a company…
