Category Archives: Tax Month – April 2015

*Donoghue v FCT – recovery proceedings dismissed – underlying assessments invalid because of intentional use of material protected by LPP [17]

The Federal Court has dismissed tax recovery proceedings against a taxpayer following earlier quashing assessments issued to him. Proceedings for the recovery of a taxation liability, grounded in the quashed assessments and related general interest charge (GIC), were originally instituted by a Deputy Commissioner of Taxation against the taxpayer in the Supreme Court of Queensland.…

*Commissioner of Taxation v Seymour – AAT should not have permitted the taxpayer to give video evidence for fear of arrest or DPO [16]

The Federal Court has set aside an AAT decision that had allowed a married couple who live in Mauritius to give evidence in a tax case by video link. The AAT had allowed the couple to give their oral evidence in a tax case by video link – Re The Overseas Applicants and FCT[2014] AATA…

Bond v FCT – Pilot’s insurance proceeds on losing his license for medical reasons was an ETP and not capital for personal injury under s82-135 [15]

The Federal Court has held that a lump sum payment made to an airline pilot who lost his pilot’s license for medical reasons was assessable as an eligible termination payment (ETP). Facts – The taxpayer was employed as an airline pilot. Following the cancellation of his pilot’s licence for medical reasons the taxpayer received a…

*FCT v Australian Building Systems Pty Ltd (in liq) & Anor – special leave to appeal – liquidator does not have to retain funds for tax on disposal [14]

The High Court heard (on 17.4.15), the Commissioner’s applications for special leave to appeal against the decision of the Full Federal Court decision in FCT v Australian Building Systems Pty Ltd (in liq) & Anor [2014] FCAFC 133. The Full Federal Court had confirmed that s 254(1)(d) of the ITAA 1936 does not require a liquidator to retain monies from…

*Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd v The Commonwealth of Australia – issue of free ‘carbon units’ did not give preference to one state and therefore valid [13]

On Wed 8.4.2015, the High Court unanimously upheld the validity of provisions of the Clean Energy Regulations 2011 (Cth) that provided for the free issue of carbon “units” to entities engaged in the production of nickel. The Clean Energy Act 2011 (Cth), Clean Energy (Charges – Excise) Act 2011 (Cth), Clean Energy (Charges – Customs)…

Justice Gordon appointed to the High Court [12]

The Attorney-General has announced that the Governor-General has accepted the advice of the Government to appoint the Honourable Michelle Marjorie Gordon, a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, as the next Justice of the High Court of Australia. Justice Gordon will replace the Honourable Justice Kenneth Hayne AC, who will reach the statutory retirement on 5 June 2015. Justice Gordon will…

Serious tax offenders brought to justice – ATO and DPP [11]

There are currently close to 100 serious criminal tax offence matters before the courts across the country. This is a result of government agencies working together to catch tax offenders and bring them to justice. Serious fraud offences that go before the courts include use of falsified invoices to claim deductions not entitled to, GST…

UK and Australia agree to collaborate on multinational tax [10]

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon. George Osborne, MP, and the Treasurer of Australia, the Hon. Joe Hockey, MP, announced during the course of the G20 meeting the urgent establishment of a joint working group to further consider and develop initiatives in relation to diverted profits by multinational enterprises. The G20 meeting in…

Negative gearing – no changes says the Prime Minister [9]

The Prime Minister has ruled out any changes being made to negative gearing. He made the commitment when responding to a question about an ACOSS report that had recommended there should be tighter restrictions around what was claimable on negatively geared properties. [LTN 72, 17/4/15]

*Structure of the tax system: Treasury paper released on theoretical aspects [8]

Treasury, on Tue 7.4.2015, released its Working Paper 2015-01. It aims to complement earlier studies and contribute to a broader discussion about the structure of Australia’s tax system by estimating the welfare cost and identifying the economic incidence of marginal changes to the tax system. The Paper’s estimates of the additional welfare cost of a…