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ASIC v PayPal: How it assists understanding what constitutes an Unfair Contract Term

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ASIC v PayPal: How it assists understanding what constitutes an Unfair Contract Term

The Federal Court decision of ASIC v PayPal Australia Pty Limited [2024] FCA 762 further clarifies the statutory unfair contract terms regime with respect to standard form contracts and provides another example of ASIC successfully taking action to void an unfair contract term.

Businesses using standard form contracts should review their contracts for potentially unfair contract terms considering recent legislative and common law changes.

#unfaircontractterms #unfair #contract #standardform #ASIC

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Sladen Snippet – Board of Taxation recommends no SMSF crypto carve out for trading stock exemption

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Sladen Snippet – Board of Taxation recommends no SMSF crypto carve out for trading stock exemption

The Board of  Taxation (BOT) has recently released its report on the taxation of digital taxes – Review of the tax treatment of digital assets and transactions in Australia. This includes a section, from page 155, on whether crypto assets should receive the “trading stock” exemption.

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Sladen Snippet – Malcolm - Land tax joint assessment

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Sladen Snippet – Malcolm - Land tax joint assessment

The decision of Malcolm v Commissioner of State Revenue [2025] VCAT 218 has considered the operation of the joint owners of land provisions for Victorian land tax purposes and confirmed that where two taxpayers own multiple parcels of land together, the joint owned land will be aggregated and the progressive scale of land tax rates will be applied only once.

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Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 4–Bendel and UPEs owing to SMSFs

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Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 4–Bendel and UPEs owing to SMSFs

As noted in part 1 of our articles on the application of the Bendel decision to the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act), in our view, it is likely that the Courts will apply the Bendel decision to the SIS Act, such that the expanded definition of loan in the SIS Act will apply to arrangements that involve the advancement of principal with an obligation to repay and that it will not apply to a mere creditor and debtor arrangement.

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Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 3 –Bendel and the in-house asset rules

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Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 3 –Bendel and the in-house asset rules

As noted in part 1 of our articles on the application of the Bendel decision to the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act), in our view, it is likely that the Courts will apply the Bendel decision to the SIS Act, such that the expanded definition of loan in the SIS Act will apply to arrangements that involve the advancement of principal with an obligation to repay and that it will not apply to a mere creditor and debtor arrangement (like a UPE).

In this part 3 of the series we examine how this may play out in the in-house asset rules contained in Part 8 of the SIS Act.

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Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 2 –Bendel and section 65 of the SIS Act

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Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 2 –Bendel and section 65 of the SIS Act

As noted in part 1 of our articles on the application of the Bendel decision to the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act), in our view, it is likely that the Courts will apply the Bendel decision to the SIS Act, such that the expanded definition of loan in the SIS Act will apply to arrangements that involve the advancement of principal with an obligation to repay and that it will not apply to a mere creditor and debtor arrangement (like a UPE).

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Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 1 – can Bendel be applied to the SIS Act?

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Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 1 – can Bendel be applied to the SIS Act?

As discussed here, the recent decision of the Full Federal Court (Court) in FCT v Bendel [2025] FCAFC 15 (Bendel) has been a significant one in the private tax world.

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Sladen Snippet - Bendel: special leave and updated DIS - ATO fires a warning shot

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Sladen Snippet - Bendel: special leave and updated DIS - ATO fires a warning shot

On 19 February 2025, the Full Federal Court handed down its decision in FCT v Bendel [2025] FCAFC 15. On 18 March 2025, the ATO applied for special leave and, on 19 March 2025, the ATO updated its interim decision statement (DIS) on the case.

We review the updated DIS below.

#Division 7A, #UPE, #Unpaid present entitlements, #Tax, #Trusts, #TD2022/11, #Bendel, #109D #Special leave #Decision Impact Statement

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Unfair Contract Terms What we can learn from the decided cases

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Unfair Contract Terms What we can learn from the decided cases

This paper tracks the legislative development of the unfair contract terms regime, recaps the basic elements and exemptions to the regime’s application and then recounts the historic development of the case law in respect of the regime.

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CONCURRENT 5B The Right Fit: SMSFs vs. Alternative Investment Structures

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CONCURRENT 5B The Right Fit: SMSFs vs. Alternative Investment Structures

Given this is a superannuation conference, most of the presentations will be dealing with the uses of, and issues with, superannuation and self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).

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Payday super – exposure draft legislation now open for consultation

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Payday super – exposure draft legislation now open for consultation

In the 2023-24 Budget, the Government announced that the super guarantee framework will be reformed to align the payment of super guarantee contributions with an employee’s regular pay cycle, instead of the current quarterly requirements. 

The exposure draft legislation for the new ‘Payday Super’ rules has now been released, with consultation open until 11 April 2025.

The super guarantee charge, payable where employers fail to make contributions in full and on time, will be updated, including a new ‘administrative uplift’ component of up to 60% of the shortfall amount.

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Sladen Snippet - QWYN – ART considers what is a superannuation pension (further challenge to the ATO’s view?)

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Sladen Snippet - QWYN – ART considers what is a superannuation pension (further challenge to the ATO’s view?)

In the decision of QWYN and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation and business) [2025] ARTA 83 the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) has determined that regular disability payments described as a superannuation income stream was a superannuation income stream for tax purposes and not a number of (more tax concessionally treated) disability lump sums.

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Pursuing directors for insolvent trading: Can a creditor take action?

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Pursuing directors for insolvent trading: Can a creditor take action?

In certain circumstances creditors can take direct action against directors of companies in liquidation  to recover insolvent trading losses suffered.

The process for doing so is to first try and obtain the liquidator’s consent and if they are not forthcoming, then take the steps required under subsections 588S and 588T of the Act.

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Conexa - Water Pipeline is an Interest in Land and Subject to Landholder Duty

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Conexa - Water Pipeline is an Interest in Land and Subject to Landholder Duty

The New South Wales Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against a decision that a pipeline was dutiable for the purposes of the New South Wales landholder duty provisions in Conexa Sydney Holdings Pty Ltd v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [2025] NSWCA 20.

Sladen Legal Joins The Law Firm Network

Sladen Legal Joins The Law Firm Network

Sladen Legal is proud to announce its membership in The Law Firm Network, a distinguished global association of independent law firms. This network enhances Sladen Legal’s ability to support clients who require international representation as well as clients of network firms seeking specialist Australian representation. 

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Bendel – UPEs as loans – are the curtains closed?

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Bendel – UPEs as loans – are the curtains closed?

On 19 February 2025, the Full Federal Court, in FCT v Bendel [2025] FCAFC 15 (Bendel), held that an unpaid present entitlement (UPE) with a corporate beneficiary is not a loan under subsection 109D(3) of Division 7A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936).