The taxpayer has lodged a notice of appeal to the Full Federal Court against the decision of Edmonds J in FCT v Rawson Finances Pty Ltd [2012] FCA 753. The Federal Court had allowed the Commissioner’s appeal and held that the taxpayer had not discharged the onus of proving that amounts of over $4.75m deposited…
Two men convicted under Project Wickenby on each of 2 counts of conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth have been sentenced by the NSW Supreme Court. The counts on the indictment presented on behalf of the Commonwealth DPP were brought under the Crimes Act 1914 and the Commonwealth Criminal Code. The 2 men were Mr Robert…
In a Project Wickenby case, the NSW Supreme Court has ordered a permanent stay of any proceedings on indictments against 2 men concerning alleged false tax deductions claimed regarding whisky distillation schemes. On 14 March 2012, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (“CDPP”) presented an indictment to the Supreme Court, which charged that the 2…
The NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal has affirmed the decision of the NSW Chief Commissioner of State Revenue denying a request of an applicant (Marrickville Legal Centre) to provide information in relation to boarding houses. The key issue was whether the NSW Office of State Revenue (OSR) should release information to Marrickville Legal Centre under the…
In a decision handed down on Wed 8.8.2012, the Supreme Court of Victoria has dismissed a taxpayer’s appeal and held that a statutory demand for unpaid tax debts should stand, even though there had been a change of taxpayer. A company called I.E.S. Australia Pty Ltd (now called Australia D.I.S. Pty Ltd) (DIS, the taxpayer)…
The AAT has held a taxpayer was an Australian resident as he did not have a permanent place of abode outside of Australia for part of the 2009 income year (between 21 November 2008 and 30 June 2009). Accordingly, it held the foreign sourced income derived by the taxpayer was assessable income for the relevant…
The AAT has affirmed an amended assessment issued to a taxpayer, a company that ran a bakery business, for undeclared income and incorrectly calculated GST. It did so on the basis of finding that the taxpayer had not satisfied the onus of proving the assessment was excessive. In arriving at its decision, the AAT took…
The AAT has affirmed amended assessments issued to a taxpayer for the 1999 to 2007 income years which increased his assessable income by some $25m and imposed shortfall penalties of some $5m. The information on which the amended assessments were based was information obtained from a former employee of a Liechtenstein bank, who illegally obtained…
The AAT has affirmed a decision of the Tax Practitioners Board terminating an applicant’s tax agent registration on the basis that he was not a “fit and proper person” under s 20-5 of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA). In November 2010, the Board terminated the applicant’s tax agent registration pursuant to s 40-5(1)(b)…
The AAT has confirmed amended assessments to include “special income” issued by the Commissioner to a taxpayer for the 2005 and 2006 income years as correct. The background facts were complex, but essentially involved the taxpayer (a trustee company of a self-managed super fund), a Unit Trust, and an individual who was a director of…