This year seven of Sladen Legal’s lawyers have been recognised in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers® in Australia. Daniel Smedley, Bernie O’Sullivan, Phil Broderick, Rob Jeremiah, Neil Brydges, Victor Di Felice, and Edward Skilton. The list of exceptional legal professionals was announced on 20 April 2023.

During the stages of administration of a deceased estate, a beneficiary may become presently entitled to the income. It is important to recognise this to determine who is responsible for the payment of income tax on that income.

The High Court has confirmed that, in certain circumstances, the presumption of advancement can apply to contributions to the purchase price of property or the transfer of assets.

Almost one year into its two-year pilot, the Victorian Sick Pay Guarantee scheme has paid out more than one million hours of sick and carer’s leave to casual employees at a cost of more than $22 million.  The scheme is currently fully funded by the Victorian Government. 

The general requirement of an self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) is that all members must be trustees of the SMSF or directors of the SMSF corporate trustee. As such, putting aside disputes between trustees/directors, generally members are making the decisions about their benefits and the assets of the SMSF.

When a company becomes presently entitled to trust income, it is imperative that the rules in Division 7A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 are front and square in the minds of the trustees and their advisors.

Treasury has released an information sheet on how the new “30% tax rate” for super balances over $3 million will work.  

According to the ATO’s March 2022 statistical data (see here), the total value of crypto assets held by SMSFs was $220 million. That is less than 0.03% of all SMSF investments. The number of SMSFs that held crypto assets was 3,345 SMSFs being 0.6% of SMSFs.

On 21 February 2023 Revenue NSW announced that it has been determined that NSW surcharge purchaser duty and surcharge land tax (Surcharge Provisions) are inconsistent with international tax treaties entered into by the Australian Federal Government with New Zealand, Finland, Germany, and South Africa (Treaty Countries).

The introduction of windfall gains tax under the Windfall Gains Tax and State Taxation and Other Acts Further Amendment Act 2021 (Vic) (Act) has been highly controversial from the outset due to real concerns as to whether the tax truly captures a purported “windfall” by landowners who rezone land in Victoria and its punitive tax rate of 50% of such gains.

Trusts are generally known to have a flexibility that can achieve favourable tax outcomes, whether used as a vehicle for operating a business or as the entity to hold investments.

Recently, the paid family and domestic violence leave entitlement provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 came into force.  This new entitlement is available to nearly all employees in Australia and imposes new obligations on employers.  So, what is the new entitlement and what do employers need to do when they are faced with a request to take the leave? We provide the answers in our Employment Law team’s most recent article.

This time last year, we published an article querying whether the Federal Court decision in Guardian AIT Pty Ltd ATF Australian Investment Trust v FCT [2021] FCA 1619 (First Instance Decision) would ignite an administrative and judicial quest for clarity on the interpretation of section 100A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936).

After industry pushback against the disproportionate application of the non-arm’s length income (NALI) and non-arm’s length expenses (NALE) rules, Treasury has a released a discussion paper to modify the application of the NALI/NALE rules.

The High Court of Australia has dismissed the special leave application by the taxpayer, Vicinity Funds Re Ltd (Taxpayer) to appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria (Court of Appeal).   

In an interesting development, the ATO has released a warning in relation to SMSFs entering into gift and loan back arrangements.

We congratulate Shenelle Teunissen on her promotion to Special Counsel. Shenelle has been an important cog in a very busy team. Shenelle works across all facets of commercial property development and retail and commercial leasing.

On 23 November 2022, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) released Taxation Ruling TR 2022/3, finalising its views on personal services income (PSI) and personal services businesses (PSB).

The Supreme Court of Victoria has imposed record penalties against a labour hire provider and its director / secretary for contraventions ‘striking at the heart’ of the purposes of the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic).

Recent decisions of the Victorian Supreme Court have confirmed that the consequences for trustees are potentially disastrous if trust documentation is mislaid and cannot be located.