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Uber Case – Payments made to drivers are deemed to be wages for payroll tax purposes

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Uber Case – Payments made to drivers are deemed to be wages for payroll tax purposes

The New South Wales Court of Appeal has held that payments made to Uber drivers are deemed to be wages for payroll tax purposes under the relevant contract provisions.

In particular, the drivers provided services to Uber under their driving contracts.  The driving contracts governed or controlled the driver’s performance.  The driving services were not ancillary to the use of the vehicles.  Uber was not successful in challenging the earlier decisions of Optical Superstore and Thomas and Naaz – in particular, the payments made to derivers were “paid or payable” by Uber.

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FCT v Bendel: one more piece but uncertainty remains

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FCT v Bendel: one more piece but uncertainty remains

On 12 June 2025, the High Court granted the Commissioner special leave to appeal the decision of the Full Federal Court in FCT v Bendel [2025] FCAFC 15 (Full Court Decision) that we wrote about here.

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New South Wales case causes rethink on drafting of trust exclusion clauses

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New South Wales case causes rethink on drafting of trust exclusion clauses

A New South Wales case has opened up a risk of taxpayers to surcharge rates of stamp duty and land tax for residential land held in family trusts where badly drafted foreign person exclusion clauses have been used.  This may require a complete review of all trust deeds to ensure that additional stamp duty and land tax imposts are not incurred.

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Sladen Snippet - New Victorian Penalty Tax regime to hit taxpayers

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Sladen Snippet - New Victorian Penalty Tax regime to hit taxpayers

The State Government has introduced a new bill to State Parliament to implement changes from the 2025-2026 Victorian State Budget.  Despite a promise of no new taxes or increased taxes, a new 50% penalty tax rate allows the State Revenue to impose higher penalties if it considers a taxpayer or their adviser has been “reckless”.