What We Deliver

Liaising with the Tax Office and other revenue authorities

We help clients and their advisers deal with the Australian Taxation Office and other revenue authorities (such as the NSW Office of State Revenue) regarding:

• Audits
• Negotiated settlements
• Penalties
• Payment schemes, schedules and proposals
• Obtaining private rulings
• Preparing objections against tax assessments, and
• Litigating disputes with revenue authorities.

Recent assignment 1:

We assisted an individual who was targeted for an audit by the Tax Office in relation to options received under an employee share scheme.  We were called in to assist by his accountant because the matter not only dealt with complex taxation issues but also with the rules of evidence relating to the timing of the signature of a document.

We drafted a submission to the Tax Office to accompany the documents they had requested.  After this we had two long telephone conferences with the auditors. The Tax Office’s final decision was that the client had in fact paid the correct amount of tax on his share options and the audit was finalised without any additional tax, penalty or interest being payable.

Recent assignment 2:

The NSW Office of State Revenue (OSR) had conducted a payroll tax audit on a company and assessed it for further tax on the basis that certain contractors were really deemed employees under the employment agency provisions.  We drafted and lodged an objection after receiving a favourable opinion on the issues from Senior Counsel.

Since then we have had further meetings with the OSR who have stated that a decision on the objection will be made in the near future.  The client has informed the OSR that if the objection is disallowed, the matter will be litigated.