On 29 May 2019, I delivered the paper to a ‘Family Law Tax Intensive’ run by the Leo Cussen Centre for Law. My session was entitled ‘Tax Issues in Family Trusts’ (though, to demonstrate the issues, I used a case study, which also involved houses owned by the parties to the marriage and a ‘bucket…
On 17 may 2019, the High Court granted the Commissioner of State Revenue special leave to appeal against the decision, of the WA Court of Appeal, in Rojoda Pty Ltd v Comr of State Revenue – against a decision that certain partnership deeds were not dutiable instruments. See below for further detail. FJM 20.5.19 [Tax…
On 15 May 2019, the High Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s application for special leave to appeal against a decision of the NSW Court of Appeal concerning joint and several liability for grouped payroll tax: Fyna Projects Pty Ltd & Ors v Chief Comr of State Revenue. See below for further details. FJM 20/5/19 [Tax…
On 17 May 2019, the German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said that he expected the OECD will agree a minimum level of taxation for digital companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook by mid-2020. He also said he expected progress by the third quarter of 2019 on introducing a financial transaction tax in at least…
On 15.5.19, the High Court granted BHP special leave to appeal against the Full Federal Court decision in CofT v BHP Billiton Limited [2019] FCAFC 4 [see related Tax Technical article]. The Full Federal Court had, by a 2-1 majority, allowed the Commissioner’s appeal from the AAT decision in MWYS and FCT [2017] AATA 3037 [see related Tax…
On 29.1.19, the Full Federal Court allowed the Commissioner’s appeal and found that BHP on the issue of whether it’s ‘dual-listed’ arrangements, with the UK Billiton company, made BHP subsidiaries, ‘associates’ of the Billiton entities, for Controlled Foreign Corporations (CFC) purposes. At issue was whether BHP had to return (under the CFC provisions) its share…
On 15.4.19, Shadow Assistant Treasurer: Mr Andrew Leigh announced that a Labor government would provide the University of Melbourne’s ‘Tax Clinic’ $150,000 annually as part their policy to have 10 tax clinics around Australia, facilitate their registration as a tax agent and also give them Deductible Gift Recipient status. See below for the entire media…
On 17.4.19, the High Court heard the case brought by Glencore International seeking orders that the ATO deliver up documents it had obtained, relating to Glencore, following the 2017 leak of the so called ‘Paradise Papers’ (see related Tax Technical article). They also sought an injunction restraining the ATO from using those documents. The High…
On 16 May 2019, the ATO advised that, the previous day, a Mildura man had been sentenced to six month’s jail, in the County Court of Victoria, for Pay as You Go Withholding (PAYGw) fraud, relating to illegal phoenix activity, in the labour hire for agriculture industry. See below for the full ATO post. FJM 16.5.19…
On 15 May 2019, the High Court held that the AAT was NOT entitled, when reviewing an ASIC decision, to take into account, ‘spent’ crimes, that ASIC was prevented from considering, in the decision that the AAT was reviewing. This case confirms a well understood basis, on which the AAT operates, including in tax appeals.…