Tax

Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers is facing claims of professional negligence by insolvent tertiary education provider Cornerstone for allegedly assisting the company's former director in overstating the company's revenue and unlawfully extinguishing his debt.

Eight companies in the Dubai-based Emirates Group have lost a court bid to recoup more than $10.5 million paid to Australian staff during the COVID-19 pandemic on the mistaken belief that the money would be repaid as part of the federal government's JobKeeper subsidy scheme.

The High Court has found a 15 per cent ‘backpacker tax’ imposed on holders of Australian working holiday visas violates a double taxation agreement between Australia and the UK.

iSignthis CEO John Karantzis claims the ATO misled the court when it sought a freezing order over his assets in a dispute over an alleged $10.7 million tax debt, saying the tax office failed to give the judge “material” information.

Embattled Sydney accountant Vanda Gould has lost his defamation case against the Commissioner of Taxation, with a court finding Chris Jordan’s defamatory comments constituted a “robust”, but proportional, counter-attack to Gould’s public disparagement of the Australian Tax Office.

A judge has extended by a week a freezing order over the assets of ISignthis CEO John Karantzis in a dispute with the Australian Taxation Office over a $10.7M alleged tax debt, but a bid to extend the scope of the order to include shares in a Cyprus-based company launched by the fintech businessman has failed for now.

The Australian Taxation Office will have "commercial discussions" with Gold Coast property developer James Raptis before deciding whether to seek summary judgment in a case over $109.5 million in alleged tax avoidance.

The CEO and founder of Euro Pacific Bank, Peter Schiff, has launched a defamation lawsuit against the Nine Network over a 60 Minutes episode that allegedly implied he “facilitated the theft of millions of dollars from the Australian people” by assisting customers to commit offshore tax fraud.

Three companies operated by convicted accountant Vanda Gould have failed again to block further cross examination of Gould by the Commissioner of Taxation in a number of tax appeals in the Federal Court.

The Australian Taxation Office has won an urgent bid to freeze the assets of James Raptis and 11 associated entities, after accusing the Queensland property developer of dodging $109.5 million in taxes since 2000.