Legal news
Withholding information whilst negotiating agreements can amount to misleading and deceptive conduct. However, the recent Supreme Court decision in Sec New Line Pty Ltd v Muffin Break Pty Ltd provides important guidance on when silence will become deceptive, specifically in the context of lease and franchising renewals.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
