ATO

The Star has settled a long-running dispute with the ATO over GST on payments made to junket operators, with the ATO agreeing to refund $33 million of the $88 million in dispute. 

Tax advisors will face tougher penalties for misconduct under new federal legislation introduced in response to the PwC tax leaks scandal and recommendations from a Tax Practitioners Board review. 

A judge has approved a $550 million settlement in a class action over the Morrison government’s Robodebt scheme but has halved a funder’s payout to $35 million, despite arguments that it was unprecedented to award a single digit percentage commission. 

A former owner of the Ubertas property development group is suing Deloitte Private and Pitcher Partners, alleging they gave her negligent advice that led to an audit and a $12 million tax bill.

Holding Redlich has bolstered its tax team by hiring the Australian Taxation Office's former deputy chief tax counsel.

Shell’s Australian arm has succeeded in challenging a finding by the ATO that it needed to pay an additional $99 million in capital gains tax after it disposed of its 34.27 per cent holding in Woodside Petroleum.

The Full Court has rejected an appeal by the tax office over the classification of a redundancy payment, finding that an early learning centre worker who was offered reduced hours and pay as part of a restructure was made redundant.

The tax office has won the appointment of special purpose liquidators to entities behind a number of Queensland construction projects, as it seeks to claw back a claimed $16 million debt.

Two units of Queensland real estate firm Coronis have lost a fight with the tax office over service fee deductions claimed for payments to related entities for the use of the Coronis trade mark, among other trust assets.

Fresh off a record settlement for the Robodebt scandal, the government is facing a new class action over a law that retroactively allowed it to impose card payment surcharges, which the suit says amounts to unjust enrichment.