John Morgan is a tax specialist lawyer of more than three decades experience now practicing at the Victorian Bar - w: www.FJMtax.com e: f.john.morgan@vicbar.com.au

BCI Finances Pty Limited v FCT – Court approves order requesting overseas evidence in tax case where receipt from foreign bank doubted as loan [19]

Tax Month - August 2012

The Federal Court has granted the Commissioner’s application for an order, under s 7(1)(c) of the Foreign Evidence Act 1994, that a letter of request be sent to the judicial authorities of Israel to obtain the evidence of a bank employee there, as well as an order that the taxpayer provide to the Court a…

Mitsui & Co (Australia) Ltd v FCT – taxpayer loses appeal and can only depreciate ‘farm-in’ costs (can’t apportion between production and exploration) [18]

Tax Month - August 2012

In a decision handed down on Tue 14.8.2012, the Full Federal Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s appeal and upheld the Commissioner’s disallowance of a deduction made in respect of the part of the consideration the taxpayer attributed to a petroleum production field. In early 2004, Woodside Energy Limited was the holder of an exploration permit…

*FCT v McWilliam – Employee correct to say his ‘acquisition date’ for shares under the old Div 13A (regarding ESS) was the date of his contract and not later when options issued or resolutions passed [17]

Tax Month - August 2012

In a decision handed down on Wed 8.8.2012, the Full Federal Court has dismissed the Commissioner’s appeal against an earlier AAT decision and held that the taxpayer had applied the correct acquisition date in relation to share options and was therefore not subject to shortfall penalties that had been imposed. The taxpayer was granted options…

High Court special leave decisions: 2 granted (Mills and Consolidated Media), one refused (Esso Resources) [15]

Tax Month - August 2012

The High Court heard the following special leave applications on Fri 17.8.2012: : The Court to appeal against the decision of Millsgranted the taxpayer’s application for special leavethe Full Federal Court in Mills v FCT [2011] FCAFC 158. The Full Federal Court had confirmed that the “imputation benefit” scheme provisions in s 177EA of the…

Submissions sought on the merits of having an Inter-Governmental Agreement to help facilitate the USA FATCA laws [14]

Tax Month - August 2012

As has been extensively reported in the Thomson Reuters Weekly Tax Bulletin ever since the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was first mooted, FATCA has caused compliance headaches for many financial institutions around the world, including in Australia. FATCA is intended to assist US efforts to improve compliance with US tax laws and…

R&D Tax Incentive quarterly ‘opt-in’ credits for companies with turnover under $20m: Treasury consultation paper [11]

Tax Month - August 2012

The Government on Fri 3.8.2012 released for comment a Treasury consultation paper on the design of the R&D Tax Incentive quarterly credits proposal, which is aimed at providing more timely access for small and medium sized companies to the tax incentive. Under the proposal, quarterly credits will be available to small and medium sized companies…