The Federal Court has ordered in an “interlocutory application to be returnable immediately” that a freezing order be made against the first and second respondents (and certain related corporations and persons) on the following terms: (a) they must not remove from Australia or in any way dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of…
The NSW Supreme Court has sentenced a former accountant and tax agent to jail terms totalling over 8 years, although to be released on 17 September 2017 upon entering a recognisance to be of good behaviour. The Court said the offender was involved in a significant international tax avoidance scheme. She was sentenced in respect…
The NSW Supreme Court has dismissed applications by various defendants to revoke orders previously made by McCallum J on 5 April 2012 under s 39(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth) for the defendants to provide sworn statements of their interests in assets on a world-wide basis. The orders related to proceedings against…
The AAT has upheld an IR&D Board decision refusing to register a particular project for the purposes of the former R&D tax concession. The taxpayer, an IT company, incurred expenditure in 2002-03 and 2003-04 in connection with a project that involved embedding heat resistant radio frequency identification (RFID) tags into moulds used to manufacture motor…
In a decision handed down on Wed 17.10.2012, the AAT has held that a taxpayer was entitled to deductions for General Interest Charge (GIC) accrued on amounts for each year to which the GIC was referable. The Tribunal said the case was the culmination of a number of years of legal disputation involving the taxpayer,…
The AAT has affirmed the Commissioner’s decision to disallow the taxpayer’s objection to a private ruling. The taxpayer had sought to offset losses from his cattle breeding activities and (apparently) sought a private ruling in relation to the issue of whether the Commissioner should exercise his discretion under s 35-55(1) of the ITAA 1997 to…
The AAT has held that the Commissioner had incorrectly calculated the tax payable on the taxable component of an employment termination payment (ETP). The Tax Office calculated the tax payable on the ETP taxable component of $250,880 by first offsetting the taxpayer’s deductions (and $173,445 of prior year losses) against his “ordinary taxable income”. The…
The Federal Circuit Court of Australia Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 was passed by the House of Reps on Wed 10.10.2012, without amendment and now moves to the Senate. It will amend the Federal Magistrates Act 1999 and other legislation to rename the Federal Magistrates Court as the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, and to change…
The Federal Court has held that a taxpayer was not entitled to deduct a loss transferred to it from a related joint venture company in respect of a project to explore certain mining exploration tenements. This loss included part of a balancing adjustment deduction for “allowable capital expenditure” (ACE) claimed by the joint venture company…
The Federal Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s application under s 39B(1A) of the Judiciary Act 1903 that he was entitled to a credit of $160,0000 for tax withheld from payments of salary and wages paid to him in the 2004 income year by a company of which he was a director, employee and 50% shareholder.…