Tax

Rail freight operator Aurizon has triumphed in a tax dispute with the ATO, with a court finding that credit for a $4.4 billion loan by the Queensland government made during an initial public offering in 2010 was share capital despite no shares being issued to the state government.

Advice from non-lawyers and "routed" through a legal practitioner at multidisciplinary partnership PricewaterhouseCoopers cannot be shielded under legal professional privilege, the Federal Court has found.

The ATO has won a legal challenge over when it can claim tax from trust income, with the High Court finding beneficiaries cannot “retrospectively expunge” their entitlements to the proceeds of a trust despite the potential “unfairness” this creates.

A judge has rejected the Australian Taxation Office's claim that legal professional privilege does not apply to any communications between PricewaterhouseCoopers and its client, meat processor JBS, but has found that many of the reviewed documents do not satisfy the test of privilege.

A notice issued to Pepsico demanding royalty withholding tax over bottling payments made by Schweppes correctly notified the soft drink giant of its tax liability, the Australian Taxation Office has said.

SingTel has been blocked from making $190,000 in tax deductions after the Australian Taxation Office won its Federal Court case against the Singaporean teleco over transfer pricing benefits related to the $14.2 billion acquisition of Optus.

The Canberra developer behind the Manhattan on the Park apartment building in the national capital has been hit with a class action on behalf of home buyers who were allegedly misled into paying GST on the price of their property.

A new taxation super-group is on the horizon, with leading tax advisory firm Greenwoods set to join the ranks of PwC Australia’s financial advisory business in the midyear, amid a “war for talent” in the sector. 

The ATO has secured freezing orders on $220 million in capital gains tax arising from the $19 billion private equity sale by China's State Grid of its substantial shareholding in energy infrastructure giant AusNet.

The High Court has shot down Greensill founder Lex Greensill's bid for special leave to challenge a finding that he owes tax on $58 million in capital gains, including income from the sale of shares in the collapsed UK-based supply chain finance company.