We previously reported here in relation to the Full Federal Court decision in the residency case of Harding v COT [2019] FCAFC 29 (Harding) which found in favour of Mr Harding, reversing the Federal Court’s decision at first instance.

We have previously written on the ATO releasing guidance on demergers and back-to-back CGT roll-overs. The ATO recently released Draft Taxation Determination TD 2019/D1 concerning demergers although the ATO’s draft views may be illustrative of the Commissioner’s views in the context of back-to-back CGT rollovers.

Sladen Legal’s Daniel Smedley, Neil Brydges and Phil Broderick have received recognition in the 12th Edition of The Best Lawyers in Australia. The list of impressive legal professionals was announced in the Australian Financial Review on 22 March 2019.

As reported recently by The Age and ABC News, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is targeting property investors particularly taxpayers who may have made mistakes, errors or false claims on their tax returns in relation to property owned for investment purposes.

It is the time of the year again. The Victorian State Revenue Office (SRO) is currently issuing land tax assessments for the 2019 land tax year.

The Full Federal Court has now handed down its decision in the residency case of Harding v COT [2019] FCAFC 29 (Harding), reversing the Federal Court’s decision at first instance, and finding in favour of Mr Harding. 

In Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v Pedley (No 2) (2018) FCA 2015 (Pedley), the Federal Court confirmed the wide discretion available to the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) to allocate payments made to it for tax debts especially where the taxpayer has not provided explicit direction as to what payments should be applied to which debts.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has determined that land, used to store tools and materials for the purposes of operating a business, constituted an “active asset” for the purposes of the small business capital gains tax (CGT) concessions.

On 6 February 2019, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) withdrew its long-standing Interpretative Decision 2003/589 that a company can forgive a debt owed by a natural person for reasons of “natural love and affection” and not trigger consequences under the commercial debt forgiveness rules.

The High Court in Commissioner of Taxation v Tomaras & Ors (2018) HCA 62 (Tomaras) has confirmed the Federal Circuit Court had jurisdiction to make orders altering the property interests of parties to a marriage substituting one party for the other party as sole debtor to the Commissioner of Taxation (Commissioner) in respect of income tax liabilities owed by the first party.

In a recent case of Nifuno Pty Ltd atf Stephen Forbes Pension Fund v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [2019] NSWCATOD 3, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) considered the application of an available duty concession for the transfer of property in connection with persons changing superannuation funds, including self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).

This article provides an overview of the Commissioner’s long-awaited preliminary views on trust splitting provided in TD 2018/D3.

In modern trust structures and in the rapidly changing technological landscape, the ability of trustees to perform their fiduciary duties is being tested.

The lowering of the company tax rate to 27.5% for certain companies has implications not just for eligible companies, but also for trustees and beneficiaries of trusts.

Thousands of businesses across regional Victoria have already taken advantage of the Victorian Government’s regional payroll tax cuts, which have saved businesses more than $31 million in the first financial year it was introduced.

On 27 November 2018, McKerracher J of the Federal Court handed down his decision in Burton v CoT (2018) FCA 1857 (Burton).

On 11 October 2018, the Full Federal Court in Satyam Computer Services Limited v CoT (2018) held the ‘source’ rule in Article 23 of the Australia–India Double Taxation Agreement (Indian DTA) prevailed over the domestic definition such that payments from Australia to a company in India for work performed in India was taxable in Australia.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has recently held in Ransley v Federal Commissioner of Taxation that the profits derived by an individual taxpayer on the sale and exchange of shares were on revenue account. As a result, the taxpayer was not eligible for the capital gains tax rollover under Subdivision 124-M of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

Sladen Legal has been recognised as a Recommended Tax Law Firm (Victoria) in the recently released Doyles Guide Tax Law Rankings.

In Nationwide Towing & Transport Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue (No 2) [2018] VSC 609, the Victorian Supreme Court has handed down another decision* against the Victorian State Revenue Office by setting aside payroll tax assessments issued in relation to payments to subcontractors.