Legal news
On 30 July 2014 the Australian Taxation Office issued Taxation Ruling TR 2014/5 (previously released in draft form as TR 2013/D6) to address the tax effect of private companies paying money or transferring property to shareholders or their associates, in order to satisfy Family Court orders made pursuant to section 79 of the Family Law Act 1975.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has confirmed in ATOID 2014/23 that a loan from a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) to a unit trust, where the SMSF and its related entities held less than 10% of the units in the unit trust, and did not otherwise ‘control’ the unit trust, will not be treated as an in-house asset.
The Australian Taxation Office has confirmed in ATOID 2014/22 that an adult child can be a death benefits dependant under the superannuation laws. In the particular facts of the ATOID, the adult child had given up work to care for a terminally ill parent and received no financial support from anyone, other than the parent, during that time. The child was found to be both financially dependent on, and an interdependent of, the child’s mother. Consequently, any death benefits paid to the adult child would be tax free.
To what extent do directors of a corporate trustee owe duties to a corporate trustee, its shareholders and/or the beneficiaries of the trust?
This article examines a Federal Court case in which a director of a private company, acting as trustee of a private trust, was found to have breached his fiduciary duties to the company by entering into a series of transactions to effect superannuation contributions.
The Options Paper, Australia’s Charities and Not-for-profits has been released to seek feedback on proposed arrangements for charities in Australia following the Government’s planned repeal of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). The Government’s proposed arrangements attempt to balance reducing the administrative burden of reporting obligations with the need for public accountability.
There is no requirement to file the underlying agreement that gives rise to a security interest on the Personal Property Securities Register (Register). This has the potential to give rise to fake or sham registrations because the Register cannot determine if a registration is in fact a genuine security interest. This creates a situation where the Register can be compromised by the lodgement of sham registrations.
The Australasian Legal Practice Management Association (ALPMA) today appointed Mr Andrew Barnes, Financial Controller for the Lantern Legal Group, as its President, following the departure of Mr Anthony Bleasdale who has accepted a new role as Director of BigHand in Asia Pacific.
As previously reported, the Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Programme (EIP) was announced by the Federal Government, with funding of $484.2 million over 5 years. The EIP has an objective to improve the business capabilities of Australian small to medium enterprises, to make them more competitive on the global stage.
It’s happening. The internet is changing, growing, expanding. The .com domain will soon be competing with specific business-owned domains for greater visibility and control on the internet. What does this all mean?
It means there will be many more domain names available for registration. Business will have the ability to carve their own personal internet space by obtaining their own top level domain. And us internet users will see, over time, many more top level domains emerging so web addresses will change too.
The Victorian State Revenue Office has recently released General Information Bulletin GEN 2/14 in relation to recent duty and land tax changes that received Royal Assent on 17 June 2014. Of particular note is the change to the area defined as “Greater Melbourne” for the purposes of the Primary Land Tax Exemption.
The Australian Government has released a consultation paper which seeks to protect small businesses from the burden of unfair contract terms in standard form contracts.
Unfair contract terms go beyond what is necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the party seeking to include the terms in the contract (for example a large corporate business). These terms create a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of the parties to the contract. Similar provisions currently exist to protect consumers in dealing with businesses.
Sladen Legal can now assist GST groups with Indirect Tax Sharing and Funding Agreements.
There are multiple complex taxation laws governing GST Groups. Therefore, it is crucial to have the appropriate documentation in place to clearly define (and be able to determine) each member’s rights and obligations, and thereby avoid any adverse tax consequences.
As one of Victoria’s leading law firms, with a long standing record of providing specialised legal services to family business groups, we have identified the need for a dedicated tax consolidation practice to enable us to guide our clients and their advisors through every stage of the tax consolidation process.
There is no doubt about it, kids are addicted to mobile phones. To add to their fascination, games are becoming more and more addictive by requiring in-app purchases to maximise the experience of the game. Even though an app or game might be free to download, the app may offer the purchase of extra content such as additional lives, virtual supplies like diamonds, food, ammunition, clothing or virtual currency to buy more virtual supplies. And this can be addictive. For $2 I can buy 500 diamonds which will let me buy lots of things from the virtual corner store or for $2 I can buy an extra life and continue to play the game.
The Victorian Government has recently passed legislation that will affect a vendor’s disclosure obligations when selling property in Victoria. The changes relate to the information to be contained in the statement provided to purchasers under section 32 of the Sale of Land Act 1962 before they sign a contract of sale (commonly called a Section 32 Statement, or Vendor’s Statement).
The parties to a recent Federal Court case could have avoided a lot of time and expense if they had simply put their intellectual property ownership arrangements in writing.
Max Scott came up with a new and less costly way of making “clean wine spirits” for Bacchus Distillery. Bacchus applied for a patent in its own name, and also named one of its employees as co-inventor. Scott believed Bacchus needed to be the sole named owner so it could receive government grants, but the arrangement was never put in writing.
