The Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman (IGTO) has released its survey results into the effectiveness of the ATO’s communication of taxpayers’ rights to complain, review and appeal decisions or actions. The survey was conducted between August and September 2020 with participation from taxpayers and tax professionals. Key take-aways include: the majority respondents confirmed that the ATO regularly communicates taxpayer’s right…
The Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman (IGTO), Karen Payne, has released edition 17 of the IGTO’s newsletter – “IGoT News”. This edition provides: a summary of IGTO’s website “refresh” and improvements; a summary of the ATO’s approach in reporting business tax debts to Credit Reporting Bureaus, which commenced in August 2021; confirmation from the ATO that a practitioner’s…
The TPB has released a media release stating that the Federal Court, following the TPB’s application, has ordered an unregistered tax agent to stop preparing and lodging income tax returns while not a registered tax agent with the TPB. The unregistered tax agent is alleged to have illegally charged clients fees to lodge returns on their behalf.…
The Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman (IGTO) has released its latest report in the investigation of the ATO’s administration of JobKeeper enrolment deferral decisions. The IGTO has investigated at least 20 taxation complaints (to date). Initially (up until around April 2021), the IGTO investigations did not observe the ATO applying the ‘fair and reasonable threshold’, as…
The ATO, on Fri 17.9.2021, issued taxpayer alert TA 2021/2: Disguising undeclared foreign income as gifts or loans from related overseas entities. The Alert highlights the ATO’s concern where Australian-resident taxpayers derive income or capital gains offshore (foreign assessable income) but fail to declare it in their Australian income tax returns. [Assuming the worst, but how…
On 16 September 2021, the NSW Supreme Court, Court of Appeal held that a taxpayer, who owned land, was exempt from NSW land tax, based on the ‘primary production’ tests – in circumstances where there were there were a number of different uses, by different persons, one of which included agistment, with the ‘commerciality’ and…
The ATO is running a high profile case in the Federal Court, against PwC, challenging its claims that large amounts of information, relevant to its client: JBS, is subject to legal professional privilege (LPP) – pressing its right to get access, to that which is not privileged. This case is making news (see related TT…
The ATO commenced action in the Federal Court against professional services firm: PwC, to challenge its claim that information, related to its client: JBS, is subject to ‘legal professional privilege’ (LPP), which, PwC contends, puts that information, beyond the reach of the ATO’s statutory right, to access particular types of information. The action commenced Monday…
And now for something important – even though, only tangentially relevant, to tax. On 8 September 2021, the High Court found in favour of Dylan Voller, on the issue of whether various news outlets had published allegedly defamatory comments, made by third parties, in the ‘comments’ function on their respective ‘Facebook’ pages, where they’d posted…
On 8 September 2021, the High Court brought down a defamation decision of very considerable significance – even to tax practitioners. It found that the host of a Facebook page, could be liable for defamatory comments made, by a third party, in response to a news article they had published. The basis was that they…
