Category Archives: Tax Month – September 2012

*Government to rename the Federal Magistrates Court as the ‘Federal Circuit Court of Australia’ [23]

The Federal Attorney-General announced on Thur 13.9.2012, that the Federal Magistrates Court will be renamed the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, and the title of Federal Magistrate will be renamed Judge. The Federal Magistrates Court has occasionally handed down tax-related decisions, such as the decision in Tang & Anor v Bassili & Ors [2011] FMCA…

*Fowler v FCT – date of acquiring share option rights: taxpayer loses before Federal Court [22]

The Federal Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s appeal and held that he did not acquire a right with respect to share options for the purposes of Div 13A of the ITAA 1936 until 30 November 2006. In the 2007 income year, the taxpayer, through a company called Tess Aust Pty Ltd, acquired 742,500 options in…

*Bell v FCT – CGT – Court finds the ‘net asset value test’ failed because an money was held in an interest off-set account instead of being used to pay off the mortgage – even though another loan in trust did relate to assets [21]

The Federal Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s appeal from the decision in AAT Case [2012] AATA 45, Re Bell and FCT in which the AAT found that the taxpayer failed to qualify for the CGT small business concessions in relation to a capital gain of $6m made by a family trust to which the taxpayer…

*DCT v Bollands & Ors – Freezing orders varied to allow taxpayer access to funds for legal expenses [20]

The Federal Court has allowed a taxpayer’s interlocutory application to vary freezing orders to allow the taxpayer to access funds to meet “reasonable legal expenses” in relation to a complex dispute with the Commissioner over an $11.8m tax debt. The freezing orders were made in relation to funds held by a related trust to which…

*Thorpe v FCT – AAT ordered to rehear case after reproducing the Commissioner’s submissions without attribution (no independent thought?) [19]

The Federal Court has remitted a matter to be heard and decided again by the AAT after finding that the AAT had made an error of law amounting to a constructive failure to exercise its jurisdiction by substantially reproducing the Commissioner’s written submissions verbatim and without attribution in its reasons for its decision. The substantiative…

*Palassis & Ors v FCT (No 2) – Income tax and GST assessments, and Div 7A issues: AAT ordered to rehear case [18]

The Federal Court has remitted a matter to be heard and decided again by the AAT after finding the AAT had made an error of law amounting to a constructive failure to exercise its jurisdiction by substantially reproducing the Commissioner’s written submissions verbatim and without attribution. The substantive issue in the case concerns the taxpayer’s…

*Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited v Konza – Full Federal Court confirms validity of s 264 notices seeking Vanuatu bank information [17]

The Full Federal Court has unanimously upheld the decision in Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited v Konza [2012] FCA 196 and confirmed that notices issued by the ATO under s 264 of the ITAA 1936 to the Bank were valid. The notices sought information about customers of an affiliate of ANZ with accounts…

*Binetter v DCT – Taxpayer loses appeal on review of Commissioner’s decision to issue a s 264 notice issue [16]

In a decision handed down on Thur 6.9.2012, the Full Federal Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s appeal from part of the judgment of Robertson J in Binetter v DCT (No 3) [2012] FCA 704, concerning the validity of s 264 notices issued by the Commissioner. The Federal Court had refused the taxpayer’s application for judicial…

*FCT v Park – ATO garnishee notice valid: Commissioner’s appeal allowed [15]

In a majority 2:1 decision, the Full Federal Court allowed the Commissioner’s appeal from a 2011 decision in the Federal Magistrates Court in which the Commissioner’s garnishee notice was set aside regarding a property transaction. The transaction in this case involved a property owned by a Mrs Bassili over which she granted a mortgage to…

Net effect of company tax cut traded off against repeal of other tax concessions [14]

Chartered Accountants say it will have negative impact on economy According to the Institute of Chartered Accountants, removing concessions on existing tax-based incentives to capital investment will have a negative impact on Australia’s GDP. The Institute, in its submission to the Business Tax Working Group (BTWG), argued that proposed options to trade off concessions on…