On 15 December 2021, the Federal Court held that the “Harman undertaking” (broadly, to not use court documents other than for the purposes of that court case) does not constrain the Commissioner’s lawful exercise of his statutory powers to get access to and require delivery of documents and information, nor his duties (to assess tax).…
On 16 December 2021, the Full Federal Court has confirmed that a bankrupt taxpayer had no standing to apply for a review of a decision disallowing her objections to amended assessments. Ordinarily a taxpayer is not relevantly ‘dissatisfied’. Here, however, the taxpayer had been charged with various offences based on there being a tax debt,…
On Monday 20 December 2021, the AFR reported on the Friday 17 December decision of Justice Moshinsky, in the Federal Court, which found against the taxpayer on transfer pricing interest deductibility issues (see related TT article). The AFR Article is set out below. Singapore Telecommunications has failed in an attempt to get almost $895…
On 17 December 2021, the Federal Court (Moshinsky J) handed down a decision which found against the taxpayer on transfer pricing interest deductibility issues (see related TT Article). This is case involving the group that owns Optus, where interest deductions totalling almost $895m were denied. The facts were these. The Taxpayer and SAI were ultimately 100%…
On 21 December 2021, the Federal Court (Logan J) handed down the decision in Guardian AIT Pty Ltd ATF Australian Investment Trust v Commissioner of Taxation – which found against the Commissioner of Taxation on both issues, namely, whether anti-avoidance ‘Recoupment’ provisions in s100A of the ITAA36 applied (to impose s99A tax on the trustee, by deeming…
The Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman (IGTO), Karen Payne, has released edition 18 of the IGTO’s newsletter – “IGoT News”. This edition provides: a summary of the IGTO report, Effectiveness of ATO communications of Taxpayers’ Rights to Complain, Review and Appeal, which was released in October 2021; a reminder of IGTO’s thought leadership paper, A Brief…
The High Court has dismissed the taxpayer’s application for special leave to appeal from the decision of the Full Federal Court in Advanced Holdings Pty Limited atf The Demian Trust v FCT [2021] FCAFC 135. The Full Federal Court decision, which now stands, had: upheld a decision that a joint venturer did not have a…
On Wed 8.12.2021, the High Court allowed the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation’s appeal from a decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia, validating the world wide freezing order, the Deputy Commissioner, obtained in the Federal Court at first instance. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION v CHANGRAN HUANG [2021] HCA 43…
On Friday 10.12.2021, the ATO today published the Corporate Tax Transparency Report 2019-20. It is the seventh annual report on corporate tax transparency (and is designed to inform public debate about the corporate tax system. It analyses aggregated data from the 2019–20 income tax returns of some of the largest corporations operating in Australia. It describes changes…
Since the decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria in September 2019 in Commissioner of State Revenue v The Optical Superstore Pty Ltd [2019] VSCA 197 (Optical Superstore), there has been considerable uncertainty and concern about the payroll tax position for medical and health practices. A recent decision in New…