ATO

An appeals court has found that an unpaid present entitlement to a corporate beneficiary is not a loan under tax law, upending the ATO’s longstanding practice of treating UPEs as part of a trustee's assessable income.

Maxcon Developments, which allegedly owes $23 million in unpaid tax, has lost its bid to stay orders winding up the business, with a judge deeming the company “hopelessly insolvent”.

An ex-EY partner accused of pocketing $700,000 in commissions in a tax loss scheme wants to vindicate his reputation at trial but is weighing whether to keep his silence, a court has heard.

Dentons has nabbed former Hamilton Locke tax disputes partner Damien Bourke, who wants to build up the team aggressively and nominated ATO understaffing as a pressing issue.

A collectable car dealer who operated his Gosford business using a ‘museum concept’ has won a High Court victory in a dispute with the ATO over whether he should be on the hook for luxury car tax.

A former EY partner who was ousted after the tax office claimed he had promoted a $700,000 tax exploitation scheme has argued he is entitled to claim privilege over communications with the accounting firm's general counsel and an external barrister, despite EY having waived it. 

The tax office has asked the High Court to overturn a decision which found that payments made by Asahi Breweries-owned Schweppes to PepsiCo under agreements to sell brands such as Pepsi and Mountain Dew in Australia were not subject to a royalty withholding tax. 

A former employee of the Australian Taxation Office who faced murder charges over a cold case from 1984, which have since been dropped, has lost his unfair dismissal case after the FWC found he was not forced to resign. 

A former ATO worker who accused his employer of using heavy handed debt collection tactics against taxpayers has lost his second bid for immunity from prosecution, with an appeals court finding that whistleblowing laws only protect the disclosure itself.