23 Mar

Following on from his previous published views on a correct interpretation of section 100A, West Garbutt Principal – Director, Mark West has provided further comment following the BBlood decision (by Thawley J), the decision by the Full Federal Court in the Guardian AIT appeal and the issue by the ATO of its final ruling TR 2022/4. Mark submits there remain significant unresolved inconsistencies between the ATO's approach in TR 2022/4  - and the words of section 100A and the case law. To access this document, please click: Section 100A update ...

12:51 / Income Tax
22 Mar

West Garbutt Senior Associate, Alex Whitney, wrote and presented a paper on trust deed drafting mistakes and how to fix them for Legalwise on 28 February 2023. The paper will help readers on how to identify and fix bad drafting and the limits on doing so. To access this document, please click: Trust Drafting ...

11:59 / Trusts and Equity
27 Sep

West Garbutt Principal - Director, Mark West has authored the following paper on the 'ordinary family or commercial dealing' exceptions in section 100A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. The decision of BBlood Enterprises Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2022] FCA 1112 is thoroughly analysed by Mark on the basis of valuable guidance in relation to this section of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. To access this document, please click: BBlood Enterprises Decision ...

08:42 / Income Tax
20 Jun

West Garbutt Principal - Director, Mark West has authored the following paper for Taxation in Australia Vol 56(11). This paper challenges the view that tax purpose limits the extent of the "ordinary family and commercial dealing" exclusion from the meaning of "reimbursement agreement" in s 100A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. This “tax purpose based” view is central to the position reflected in the ATO’s TR 2002/D1 and PCG 2022/D1. But a disciplined analysis of the exact words of s 100A in the context of the approach to statutory interpretation prescribed by the High Court, and past case...

16:00 / Income Tax
20 Oct

West Garbutt Senior Associate Alex Whitney has authored the following paper on family trusts for Legalwise. This paper discusses the intricacies of the family trust election rules and their impact on family trusts at each stage of a trust’s lifecycle. To access this document, please click: Family Trusts; the beginning, middle and end ...

10:45 / Uncategorized
14 Apr

In response to the impact of Covid-19 on the Queensland economy, the Queensland government has announced a range of land tax relief measures.  Lawyers Lyndon Garbutt and Mark West have prepared an overview of the measures for Queensland landowners, including how the different measures can be accessed and considerations to be taken into account in determining eligibility. To access this document, please click: Queensland land tax - Covid-19 Relief ...

11:37 / Land Tax
29 Nov

The ATO will be notifying all tax agents in early December 2019 regarding which of their clients will be coming under review by the expansion of its Tax Avoidance Task Force. Affected taxpayers include any private wealth groups that control more than $5 million in wealth or have more than $10 million in turnover.  Essentially, the ATO has: expanded its Top 320 program to be a Top 500 program, focusing on the 500 largest private wealth groups in Australia introduced a new high wealth private groups program focused on private groups with more than $50 million in wealth introduced a new medium and emerging private groups program focused on private...

15:23 / CGT / GST / Income Tax
24 Jul

The Queensland OSR has recently launched its new online portal ‘OSR Online’.  The portal provides a secure electronic platform for landowners and their advisors to manage land tax obligations.  Lyndon Garbutt and Mark West have prepared an overview of the portal, including how to access and register for the portal, how to link related companies and trusts and how to authorise advisors.
16:41 / Land Tax
29 Jan

West Garbutt have extensive expertise and experience in representing clients subject to a variety of revenue audits including Top 320 income tax audits, wealthy Australian income tax audits, GST audits, payroll tax audits and land tax audits. In the attached article, Lyndon Garbutt and Michael McLaughlin describe how best to guard against tax audit risk, summarising:
  • why high wealth individuals and private wealth groups have an increased exposure to the risk of income tax audits;OK
  • the potential costs of tax audits; and
  • strategies to help manage the risk associated with audits.  
17:25 / GST / Income Tax / Land Tax / Payroll Tax / Stamp Duty