If Div 296 comes back – what should members and SMSFs do?

If Div 296 comes back – what should members and SMSFs do?

With the recent Labor election victory, and a potentially friendlier Senate, it is likely that the proposed Division 296 tax of an additional 15% on members with a $3 million or more total super balance (not indexed) will be enacted. See here for our previous commentary on the measure.

FCT v Liang: Full Federal Court reaffirms taxpayer burden of proof

FCT v Liang: Full Federal Court reaffirms taxpayer burden of proof

The Full Federal Court case of Commissioner of Taxation v Liang [2025] FCAFC 4 serves as a reminder that when challenging an ATO decision at a court or tribunal, it is the taxpayer who carries the burden of proving that an assessment is excessive and what the assessment should have been.

Sim - Spouse of Australian citizen triggers Victorian foreign purchaser additional duty

Sim - Spouse of Australian citizen triggers Victorian foreign purchaser additional duty

A Victorian foreign purchaser who bought a property in her own name with funding provided by her Australian spouse was unsuccessful in a VCAT request for exemption from foreign purchaser stamp duty surcharge in Sim v Commissioner of State Revenue [2025] VCAT 349.

Court authorises priority payment to funder of liquidator action recovering money for creditors

Court authorises priority payment to funder of liquidator action recovering money for creditors

The matter of Ford Kinter & Associates Pty Ltd v Reliance Franchise Partners Pty Ltd (in liq) [2025] FCA 139 emphasises the important role that creditors can play in facilitating asset recovery during insolvency proceedings. It further examines the broad discretionary powers the courts have under section 564 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Act), which enables courts to reward creditors who take on the financial risks of litigation to be prioritised when recovering company property or expenses in a winding up due to the risk assumed by them. In doing so, the court considers the public interest in encouraging creditors to provide indemnities so as to enable assets to be recovered.

#insolvency #liquidation #creditors #publicinterest

Franchisor Obligations for Communication with Franchisees: Lessons from Sec New Line Pty Ltd v Muffin Break Pty Ltd

Franchisor Obligations for Communication with Franchisees: Lessons from Sec New Line Pty Ltd v Muffin Break Pty Ltd

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.

AusNet v FCT and back-to-back rollovers: nothing else matters?

AusNet v FCT and back-to-back rollovers: nothing else matters?

This article considers the views of the Full Federal Court in AusNet v FCT on the “nothing else” condition in Division 615 and what those views may mean for proposed ATO guidance on sequential transactions and the “nothing else” condition of a rollover.

ASIC -v- PayPal: How it assists understanding what constitutes an Unfair Contract Term

ASIC -v- PayPal: How it assists understanding what constitutes an Unfair Contract Term

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

Sladen Snippet – Board of Taxation recommends no SMSF crypto carve out for trading stock exemption

Sladen Snippet – Board of Taxation recommends no SMSF crypto carve out for trading stock exemption

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.

Sladen Snippet – Malcolm - Land tax joint assessment

Sladen Snippet – Malcolm - Land tax joint assessment

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.

Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 4–Bendel and UPEs owing to SMSFs

Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 4–Bendel and UPEs owing to SMSFs

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.

Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 3 –Bendel and the in-house asset rules

Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 3 –Bendel and the in-house asset rules

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.

Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 2 –Bendel and section 65 of the SIS Act

Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 2 –Bendel and section 65 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).

Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 1 – can Bendel be applied to the SIS Act?

Sladen Snippet - Bendel and SMSFs – Part 1 – can Bendel be applied to the SIS Act?

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.

Sladen Snippet - Bendel: special leave and updated DIS - ATO fires a warning shot

Sladen Snippet - Bendel: special leave and updated DIS - ATO fires a warning shot

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

Unfair Contract Terms What we can learn from the decided cases

Unfair Contract Terms What we can learn from the decided cases

This paper tracks the legislative development of the unfair contract terms regime, recaps the basic elements and exemptions to the regime’s application and then recounts the historic development of the case law in respect of the regime.

CONCURRENT 5B The Right Fit: SMSFs vs. Alternative Investment Structures

CONCURRENT 5B The Right Fit: SMSFs vs. Alternative Investment Structures

Given this is a superannuation conference, most of the presentations will be dealing with the uses of, and issues with, superannuation and self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).

Payday super – exposure draft legislation now open for consultation

Payday super – exposure draft legislation now open for consultation

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.