Tax

The High Court has granted special leave in a test case by the Australian Taxation Office concerning the effectiveness of disclaimers by trust beneficiaries giving up entitlements to trust income and any associated tax obligations.

The Australian Taxation Office has told a judge it would be prepared to "give comfort" to PricewaterhouseCoopers that it will not prosecute the accounting giant for tax offences relating to documents at the centre of a court battle over privilege.

Hannover Life Re of Australasia has launch a courtroom challenge to a decision by the Australian Taxation Office which rejected $12 million in input tax credits it claimed from overheads and a distribution agreement entered into with Real Insurance.

Gadens has recruited three new partners to join the growing firm, including a tax litigation specialist who previously represented the Commissioner of Taxation in high-profile litigation against Crown Resorts.

A long standing stoush over staff expenses between Bechtel and the Australian Taxation Office has made its way to the Federal Court, with the engineering and construction firm challenging a decision that funds spent flying workers out to the Curtis Island LNG site were not tax deductible.

A judge has cut the money owed to the lead applicant in a securities class action against the directors and auditors of laser technology company Arasor from a $19.25 million settlement after a failed attempt to "re-litigate" a dispute over almost $400,000 in GST refunds.

The Australian Taxation Office has come up short in its challenge to a decision that a sole trader was eligible for Jobkeeper despite a cancelled ABN, with the Full Federal Court saying the small businessman was entitled to the government COVID-19 handout.

Construction company Clough Limited has appealed a ruling that found it cannot claim over $15 million paid to employees for cancellation of their shares and options as a tax deduction.

The Australian Taxation Office has successfully appealed a Federal Court decision finding it could not recover an R&D tax offset refund of around $2.3 million paid to Auctus Resources despite the payment being made by mistake and the mining company admitting it was not entitled to the money.

The High Court has ruled that the tax office was not obliged to refund money for tax surpluses mistakenly issued under the GST Act, in a long-running legal dispute between the Commissioner of Taxation and foreign currency exchange Travelex.