On 22 June 2022 (or thereabouts) the Commissioner of Taxation finalised and released his ‘Protocol’ on taxpayers, and others on behalf of taxpayers, claiming Legal Professional Privilege (LPP). This protocol, and the issues around it, have generated a lot of ‘heat’ over the last year or so. I thought it might be helpful to gather together links to articles touching on the key stepping stones, that marked this time and the process from issuing the Protocol as a draft and its recent finalisation.
The following ares some of the key stepping stones.
- PWC fight with the ATO over its JBS client’s affairs – Background issues; the Federal Court Hearing; PwC’s partial loss in the Federal Court.
- Draft protocol issued in September 2021 (see related TT articles – Release of Draft Protocol & the Draft Protocol itself TT page)
- The Law Council of Australia (LCA) made submissions as part of the ATO’s consultation process (see related TT article).
- The Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) also made submissions as part of this consultation – which include examples of the bad conduct by ATO staff and s39B of the Legal Practitioners Uniform law, which create a ‘counter-balancing offence’ if the Commissioner and his staff by overreach “cause, induce or attempt to to cause or induce a [lawyer] to … contravene [their] professional obligations’, which include lawfully protecting LPP (see related TT article).
- Finalised Protocol
- Compendium on ATO’s consultation (on the draft Protocol).
- ATO web guidance on its information gathering approach and powers
[Tax Month – June 2022 – Previous Month, 4.7.22]