ATO

A judge has rejected a bid by WA businessman and former Perth Glory owner Antony Sage to uncover external legal advice provided to the tax office in a dispute over an audit that went to the AAT, finding that reliance by the Tribunal on the material could endanger its independence.

The Commissioner of Taxation is pursuing a former Big Four partner for allegedly promoting tax exploitation schemes for clients. But a fight has broken out in court over whether his identity -- and the name of the accounting firm -- should be suppressed.

A retired law firm partner has taken his battle with the ATO to the High Court, arguing he is not liable to be taxed on $182,000 in goodwill payments he received on exiting the firm's partnership in 2008. 

The son of former ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston has been jailed for a minimum 10 years for his leading role in a $105 million tax evasion scheme.

A former law firm partner has lost his scrap with the Australian Taxation Office over exit payments he received on retirement, with a court ruling his $180,000 payout could not be offset against repayments made to the partnership's capital account. 

A self-represented litigant locked in a legal battle with the ATO and Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has won an appeal of a decision that set aside nine subpoenas she issued, including one to the Assistant Director of the CDPP, with the appeals court finding that the relevance of the evidence sought was enough to satisfy the application.

Hannover Life Re should be allowed tax credits for GST paid on a share of its overheads, including rent and power, a judge has found in a partial win for the reinsurer.

The Human Rights Law Centre has been given the go ahead to intervene as amicus curiae in the case of ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle, after a March ruling that the former debt collection officer could not rely on statutory whistleblower protections

Chobani has lost a dispute over the tax office's recent decision to apply GST to the US yoghurt maker's Flip range.

A judge overseeing a superannuation class action against two Westpac units that settled for $30 million has flagged the possibility of appointing a contradictor to examine the litigation funder’s claimed cut of the settlement, which includes a deduction of over $1 million to cover the costs of after-the-event insurance.