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

Newly elected Treasurer announces review of the retirement income system, including the interaction of superannuation, government pensions and, potentially, taxation

Tax Month - May 2019

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will commission a review of the retirement income system, including the interaction of superannuation, government pensions and, potentially, taxation. This would include a review of the policy of superannuation (deferred remuneration and national savings) and reviewing union influence in Industry Superannuation. See below for the details. FJM 2.6.19 [Tax Month – May…

‘Letters of Engagement’ – Law Council’s submission to the TPB on its 10 page exposure draft of Practice Note TPB(PN) D40/2019 – where it goes too far

Tax Month - May 2019

On 10 May 2019, the Tax Practitioner’s Board (Board) issued a draft Practice Note TPB(PN) D40/2019 – giving guidance to tax agents, that register with the Board, on status of ‘Letters of engagement’, their relevance, roll and the matters the Board thought relevant to include. On 31 May 2019, the Law Council of Australia (LCA)…

Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) claims – ATO ‘consulting’ on ‘full LPP review’ terms in lawyers’ retainers – lawyers push back on this …

Tax Month - May 2019

The ATO has been consulting on ‘improving’ lawyers ‘scope of engagement’ agreements – to deal with, what they see, as problems with ‘legal professional privilege’ (LPP) claims. Effectively, they misunderstand who the privilege belongs to, and they presume to influence the terms on which lawyers are retained by clients. This idea got legs in the 30…

The National Tax Liaison Group (NTLG) meeting on 30 November 2018 – ‘Key Messages’ document, including: ATO independent review, Digital economy, black economy, IGT on fraud control, ‘Reporting entities’ and LPP

Tax Month - May 2019

The National Tax Liaison Group met on 30 November 2018, and subsequent to that, the ATO issued a ‘Key Messages’ document, which covered each of the items, including: Independent Review for entities that are not ‘large’ or ‘small’; Digital economy; Black economy; Inspector-General of Taxation’s Review of Fraud Control Management; and ‘Reporting entities’ and who should prepare General…

Unannounced Victorian Duty amendment makes drastic changes to the ‘economic entitlement’ provisions – affecting development agreements with owners

Tax Month - May 2019

There is an aspect of the State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2019 that was not mentioned in the Victorian budget, and which is causing consternation in development circles, relating to an entire new Part, dealing with ‘economic entitlements’, which goes further than the pretext justified (namely: reversing the effect of the 2016 Victorian Supreme Court…

Victorian Taxation Budget Measures – more Duty, more Land Tax, less Payroll Tax & some valuations higher

Tax Month - May 2019

The State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2019, passed the Legislative Assembly (Lower House) on 29 May 2019 and was introduced and read a first time in the Legislative Council (Upper House). The Bill contains the various measures announced by the Andrews Labor Government, in Victoria, earlier that week. See also a related Tax Technical article…