While the legislation tells us what the law is, the ATO’s internal manuals tell their auditors exactly how to enforce it. One of the most revealing documents for tax professionals is Practice Statement Law Administration PS LA 2011/8. It is the ATO’s internal rulebook...
The homemade Will in Re Negrean; Borbil v Borbil Mrs Raveica Negrean loved her son, John. She wanted him to be safe and live in her home when she died. So, the mother wrote in her homemade Will: “[To] my son John Negrean (Ioan Borbil) principal place of...
In the high-stakes world of corporate finance, we often get lost in the takeover jargon. We talk about “synergies” and “accretive value.” But for the average Australian, what does this actually mean? To start from ground zero: a merger is...
Clients falsely believe that Unit Trusts are immune to the foreigner surcharge stamp duty and land tax rules They think, “Since the Unit Trust is a fixed trust, the regulator can see that the unitholders are Australian. We are safe.” Be careful. The rules for Unit...
At their death, the client may wish to leave the assets in their Will to the existing Family Trust. This is because they want to use the accumulated tax losses in the Family Trust. Can you soak up losses in your Family Trust by moving dead people’s assets into...
Active Consent in Corporate Governance: Mitigating Coerced Directorships through Annual Re-Verification Submission by: Adjunct Professor Dr Brett Davies SJD, MBA, LLM, LLB, BJuris, Dip Ed, BArts(Hons) Adjunct Professor, The University of Western Australia &...
Couple relationship options 26 November 2025 | Estate planning and trust law | Family law Practitioner Article By: Barbara Smith AM, Dr Ed Koken and Dr Brett Davies There are three types of couple relationships in Australia where two people are in a romantic or sexual...
How to remove money from a company tax effectively Withdrawing wealth from your proprietary limited company is difficult. Australian tax law, particularly the tortious Division 7A rules, is designed to keep wealth ‘trapped’ inside the corporate structure....
