Tax

Notional GST payments by local councils under an intergovernmental agreement with the Commonwealth are a voluntary act, not an impermissible tax in breach of the Constitution, the High Court has ruled.

The Australian Taxation Office has won a long-running case over an international tax evasion scheme by a company linked to the Binetter family after uncovering evidence showing earlier judgments were secured by fraud.

A report alleging that the ATO asked the Tax Practitioner Board to curtail its investigation of a PwC tax leaks scandal was “fundamentally misleading”, a senior tax official has said.

Executives from KPMG have condemned the PwC tax breach scandal as ‘disturbing’ and admitted past mistakes after the firm was rocked by an exam cheating scandal.

The Tax Practitioners Board says that PricewaterhouseCoopers ignored its request for the names of nine partners put on leave in the wake of the tax leak scandal that has rocked the firm, with the regulator saying former executive Peter Collins was not the only partner who misused confidential information.

PricewaterhouseCoopers will put nine partners on leave and ringfence its government work in the wake of a tax policy leak scandal for which the embattled firm’s acting chief has issued an apology.

Treasury has referred the tax policy leak scandal engulfing PricewaterhouseCoopers to federal police for possible criminal investigation.

A sacked Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills partner seeking $13 million in compensation from his former firm and Lendlease has been criticised for claiming that whistleblower protections introduced in 2019 “wouldn’t make sense” if they did not apply retroactively.

The tax leaks scandal engulfing PwC has shone a spotlight on the culture of large professional services firms, where ensuring compliance with good governance is akin to "herding cats", experts say.