ATO

Embattled Sydney accountant Vanda Gould has lost his defamation case against the Commissioner of Taxation, with a court finding Chris Jordan’s defamatory comments constituted a “robust”, but proportional, counter-attack to Gould’s public disparagement of the Australian Tax Office.

A judge has extended by a week a freezing order over the assets of ISignthis CEO John Karantzis in a dispute with the Australian Taxation Office over a $10.7M alleged tax debt, but a bid to extend the scope of the order to include shares in a Cyprus-based company launched by the fintech businessman has failed for now.

The Australian Taxation Office will have “commercial discussions” with Gold Coast property developer James Raptis before deciding whether to seek summary judgment in a case over $109.5 million in alleged tax avoidance.

The CEO and founder of Euro Pacific Bank, Peter Schiff, has launched a defamation lawsuit against the Nine Network over a 60 Minutes episode that allegedly implied he “facilitated the theft of millions of dollars from the Australian people” by assisting customers to commit offshore tax fraud.

Three companies operated by convicted accountant Vanda Gould have failed again to block further cross examination of Gould by the Commissioner of Taxation in a number of tax appeals in the Federal Court.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has cancelled the licence of embattled former accountant Vanda Gould.

The Australian Taxation Office has won an urgent bid to freeze the assets of James Raptis and 11 associated entities, after accusing the Queensland property developer of dodging $109.5 million in taxes since 2000.

The Law Council of Australia has raised concerns about the Australia Taxation Office’s draft protocol for handling claims of legal professional privilege, saying it “overreaches” and asks too much from lawyers.

Iconic Australian beer manufacturer Carlton & United Breweries has lost an appeal seeking to shield information about 1,500 allegedly privileged documents from the Australian Taxation Office.

The Star Entertainment Group has filed court proceedings against the Australian Taxation Office seeking to have interest charges on a tax bill cancelled, saying the ATO acted “unfairly” by not adhering to the terms of a 2001 settlement agreement.