brett davies lawyers

08/04/2016

Drafting Div 7A Loans – ATO’s 4 concerns

The ATO has just audited my new client’s Div 7A agreement. It did not go well. Many Div 7A Loan agreements are not ‘commercial’ and therefore not valid based on 4 common drafting errors: The Div 7A Loan must be signed as a ‘Deed’ not as an ‘agreement’. ‘Agreements’ require […]

02/04/2016

A new way of defining Trust Income for fixed trusts – AMIT

A new way of defining Trust Income for fixed trusts – AMIT The Federal Government is kindly giving Trustees of fixed trusts a new way of calculating trust income, distribution and attributions. This is under the AMIT (Attribution Managed Investment Trust) rules. It starts 1 July 2016, but you have […]

29/03/2016

Reversionary Pension to love child

Muriel’s husband died a few years ago. At 54 she fell in love again and was the oldest mother in her city. She called her love child Colin. Her two oldest children, Ian and Brian, are successful engineers. Muriel’s assets are all in her Self-Managed Super Fund. As the sole director […]

29/03/2016

Accounting firm faces Court over alleged involvement in underpayment of workers

A Victorian accounting firm will face court over its alleged involvement in the underpayment of two Taiwanese backpackers working for one of its clients. The Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced legal action against EZY Accounting 123 Pty Ltd in the Federal Circuit Court in Melbourne. It is the first time […]

29/03/2016

Accountant and his client both sued under Employment law

An accountant acted for an Employer that failed to document an Employment Contract. The Fair Work Ombudsman is suing both Ezy Accounting and its client. Usually only company directors and HR professionals are attacked by the Ombudsman. After all, HR professionals are trained in this area and are responsible for workplace […]

12/01/2016

Crowdfunding kills brokers – accountants and advisers take over

Bypassing the stockbroker, mum and dads, aided by the adviser and accountants can directly invest in public businesses and start-ups. The Crowd-sourced Funding Bill issues in a new stream of business for advisers and accountants to help Australians invest via equity crowdfunding. However, the proposed legislation is too restrictive. Only […]

04/01/2016

Tax by Stealth

Tax by stealth – the shameful growth of the Australian tax system The Australian tax system has changed significantly since the end of the 19th century. The six colonies raised the bulk of their tax revenue from selective customs and excise duties. The original design of the tax systems of […]

02/12/2015

Accountants’ Exemption – who advises on your Super fund now?

(The link to the original Accountants’ Exemption paper is here) Self-Managed Super Funds are big business – and still so after the Accountants’ Exemption The number of SMSFs continues to increase. According to the ATO there were just over 528,000 SMSFs. There is $529 billion in assets. It is a big market. […]

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