Waterhouse Lawyers

Be warned: Yesterday the ATO announced it will be taking a closer look at 3 common errors being made by taxpayers: Incorrectly claiming work-related expenses; Inflating claims for rental properties; Failing to include all income when lodging ie non-disclosure. These seem to be old targeted areas. They certainly went hard at work-related expenses a year ago. It may be that the ATO is devoting more resources this time. Be prepared #ato #tax

Another Part IVA loss for the ATO - the test for a scheme is an objective one. This is the second in a matter of weeks. Time for the ATO to rethink its approach to tax avoidance schemes #tax #ato

Why am I not surprised that some directors don’t understand what a company is. Timely information about Div 7A from the ATO #tax #ato

Yet another super frustrating experience using mygovid. It is now a requirement when engaging a tax engagement to nominate them using the client to agent linking steps. The ATO website states you should use your mygovid to nominate an agent. Yesterday, I spent a frustrating and wasted two hours yesterday trying to nominate an agent using mygovid - the process is cirular and does not work. Today I gave up and contacted the RAM authorisation call centre. Another frustration. I had provide all of my security id questions (even though I have voice recognition id). This required 10 security questions, all detailed. Then the call operator asked me whether I would like to use mygovid to authorise the agent. grrrrrrrr. this was the reason I contacted the RAM authorsiation call centre in the first place. I am happy to report that I have now nominated my new tax agent. But waht a colossal waste of my time. #tax #ato #taxagent

Who is telling porkies about the TPB de-registration of former PWC partner, Peter Collins. It seems that during the process of investigating Peter Collins there was considerable tension between the ATO and the TPB CEO, Michael O'Neill. But CEO Michael O’Neill directly contradicted testimony by Deputy Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn and TPB chairman, Peter de Cure, who both denied that tension between the ATO and the board had impacted the investigation. If I was a gambling person, I would think it is better odds that the ATO sought to terminate Michael O'Neill. #tpb #ato #tax

Phoenixing: Company directors/developers disqualified due to phoenixing. ASIC has disqualified two Canberra directors Jamie Charles Farrelly of Kingston, ACT, and Gary James Kelly of Wright, ACT, from managing corporations for two years each due to their involvement in the failure of four companies between January 2019 and August 2021. The companies were involved in developing commercial and residential properties in Canberra. ASIC found that Mr Farrelly and Mr Kelly failed to manage companies to the standard expected of company directors in circumstances when: Mr Farrelly: allowed TPG to lend $7,437,710 to related entities without documenting the terms of the loans and resigned as a director of TPG before ensuring the loans were repaid; failed to adequately monitor the financial affairs of 3PG13 and traded whilst insolvent; and deferred payment of tax in favour of maintaining the cashflow of other companies managed by him, and Mr Kelly: failed to ensure Lifestyle Homes complied with its Australian Taxation Office (ATO) obligations to lodge activity statements and payment summaries; failed to adequately monitor the financial affairs of Lifestyle Homes and 3PG13 and traded 3PG13 whilst insolvent; and deferred the payment of tax in favour of maintaining cash flow for other companies managed by him. ASIC also found that Mr Farrelly and Mr Kelly resigned as directors of the companies to protect their credit rating and allow them to manage other companies in the group and caused harm to the credit rating of Paul Kenneth Nimal Hamilton, the replacement director, by exposing him to being disqualified as a director under s206F. #tax #phoenix #ato https://lnkd.in/gZgQy3Vn.

The refiner and the gold fraud cases. A win for the refiner. Under the GST Act, investment-grade gold bullion, or gold stamped into bars and coins, is classified as currency and therefore exempt from GST. Scrap gold, or gold that has been defaced, damaged or came from jewellery then sold to refiners, attracts GST. Criminals bought GST-free bullion, defaced it, then on-sold it to refiners as scrap, attracting GST which they collected. The refiners, who bought the scrap, claimed back the GST in the business activity statement (BAS) and were paid by the ATO, which is legal. The judgement found the gold fraudsters, not the refiner, profited from the fraud. #tax #ato #gst

Let’s talk about the ATO website… When I first started in the tax profession 20+ years ago, there was a running joke that the best way to search the ATO website was to use Google. Roll forward 20+ years & following the refresh of the ATO website, even the most powerful internet search engine won’t help you. Almost every link to historical rulings (that I’ve tried to access) is broken & the running joke now is a 404 error is the answer to everything. Even trying to access historical rulings using the legacy website returns broken links. The frustration for practitioners is real. A sign perhaps that the increasing use of non-binding web guidance by the ATO should not be the way of the future 🤔 Seriously though, please fix the issue, we need to have quick & easy access to rulings. (Views are my own)

Jon Owen is a truly inspirational leader and advocate for the homeless at Wayside Chapel ... and anyone in need. I admit to a certain bias as I am blessed to be one of Jon's friends. But I urge everyone to listen to this ABC interview - you will come away inspired and uplifted. #WaysideChapel