06 Jul

Payday super is now in effect 1. Employers should now be aware of the Federal Government’s ‘Payday Super’ reforms, which commenced from 1 July 2026. 2. These changes were introduced in November 2025 by the Federal Government, amending the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Act 1992 and the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (SGAA). 3. For employers, the most important change is the removal of quarterly superannuation guarantee payments. Now, in most circumstances, employers must make superannuation contributions on behalf of their employees at the same time as they pay salary and wages. 4. If these payments are not received by the employee’s superannuation fund within seven days, or...

09:20 / Corporate tax advisory services / Debt management matters / GST / Payment arrangements / Providing support to other accountants and lawyers / Superannuation / Tax advisory services
23 Jun

Earlier this month, Jack Colley (a Senior Associate of West Garbutt) presented the following paper which he co-authored with Alex Whitney (a Principal of West Garbutt), at The Tax Institute’s Agribusiness Intensive. The paper discusses the full lifecycle of a dispute – from risk and review to audit and objection, providing practical strategies for dealing with the ATO and effectively managing disputes. Link to paper. ...

09:34 / CGT / Corporate groups / GST / Income Tax / Private wealth families / Providing support to other accountants and lawyers / Small to medium enterprises / Tax audits and reviews / Tax objections / Tax practice areas
19 Jun

Principal Mark West and Senior Associate Hugo Southcott's paper on a practical walk-through of the decisions and tax mechanics that sit behind “just do the trust distribution”, using a prior-year fact pattern that can get complicated by current-year activities (sale of assets, dividends received, and changed beneficiary tax profiles). This case study will demonstrate: How to think about distributions and what is it we’re actually trying to distribute (and why the deed definition matters) What are the distributions to be made? Are we talking about income or capital? The practical sequencing to consider when you’ve got ordinary income, capital gains, and franked distributions Making...

14:53 / CGT / Income Tax / Providing support to other accountants and lawyers / Tax practice areas / Trusts and Equity
28 May

On 12 May 2026, the Federal Government released the document titled ‘Budget 2026-27: Minimum tax on discretionary trusts’ (the ‘Tax Explainer’) to explain the reasoning behind the proposed 30% minimum tax rate for trusts – and key aspects of how the minimum tax rate will apply. In seeking to understand how these presently proposed and unlegislated Budget changes may affect operation of discretionary trusts, at this stage, we can only rely on the Tax Explainer and the expressed underlying policy of the changes. Comments on tax policy context of trust changes The ‘Tax Explainer’ seeks to justify the announced changes on policy grounds...

09:06 / CGT / Income Tax / Trusts and Equity
15 Apr

In this article, we highlight potential tax administration traps for Queensland law practices which they should be aware of, particularly in light of upcoming renewals. Accountants and tax practitioners often liaise with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) on behalf of clients in the context of debt management, including to seek extensions of time and/or to arrange payment arrangements for outstanding debts. Whilst it is not uncommon for these arrangements to be entered into, particularly on behalf of small businesses, consideration needs to be given to any adverse ramifications that may arise for clients who are members of professional bodies, including for instance...

15:15 / Corporate tax advisory services / Debt management matters / GST / Payment arrangements / Providing support to other accountants and lawyers / Superannuation / Tax advisory services
10 Mar

Principal Dung Lam and Senior Associate Hugo Southcott authored and presented the following paper at The Tax Institute’s Private Business Tax Retreat on Friday 27 February 2026. The paper explores the tax and duty issues which arise when a discretionary trust vests and discusses the ways that a trust’s vesting date may be extended, in light of the 1 August 2025 changes to the Queensland perpetuity law made by the Property Law Act 2023 (Qld). To access this document, please click To extend or not to extend. ...

14:42 / CGT / Income Tax / Stamp Duty / Trusts and Equity
19 Nov

Land tax as it applies to deceased estates is a complex area.  Various factors need to be considered to ensure appropriate outcomes having regard to the specific circumstances of the deceased estate, the beneficiaries of the estate and, in some circumstances, the use of land. By working with the executor and/or administrator of a deceased estate (Estate Administrator) and/or estates lawyers, we can assist in ascertaining what may be appropriate outcomes for land tax purposes. When does liability arise for land tax? In Queensland, land tax is assessed on land held at midnight on 30 June each year, for the coming 12 months. Where...

10:40 / Land Tax / Tax advisory services / Tax audits and reviews / Taxation of deceased estates
28 Aug

In this paper prepared for TEN The Education Network, our senior associate Hugo Southcott and principal Lyndon Garbutt analyse the legislative provisions relating to the GST margin scheme. The paper examines the complexities of the eligibility criteria, drafting traps, the interaction between the margin scheme and GST withholding, and the rules for calculating the margin in various circumstances....

14:14 / GST / Land Tax
13 Jun

In this paper prepared for the Tax Institutes 2025 Trusts Intensive, our principal Mark West and special counsel Alex Whitney discuss the proper legal characterisation of unpaid present entitlements (UPEs) with reference to the pivotal High Court decision of Fischer v Nemeske. Also covered are tax issues associated with UPEs, including whether UPEs have a cost base, bad debt deductions and commercial debt forgiveness issues associated with forgiving UPEs, and the tax consequences more generally of assigning, discharging or forgiving UPEs (including CGT event C2). ...

15:32 / CGT / Income Tax / Stamp Duty / Trusts and Equity