Career and achievements:
Arda is an Australian legal practitioner and Principal of Norton & Quay Tax Law, a specialist tax practice he established in Sydney in February 2026.
With a decade of taxation law experience, he has trained at EY (Perth), Birchstone Tax Law and Fry Legal in Western Australia, West Garbutt in Queensland, KPMG Australia (as Associate Director, Enterprise Tax) and Mills Oakley (as Special Counsel, Taxation) in Sydney.
His practice covers the full spectrum of tax advisory, controversy and transactional work across federal and state taxes, including income tax, CGT, GST, payroll tax, land tax and stamp duty. He acts on ATO audits and reviews (including Top 100 and Next 5,000 engagements), voluntary disclosures, private ruling applications, objections, settlement negotiations and litigation support. His advisory and transactional work spans private M&A, financing, trust and private group restructures, small business CGT concessions, Division 7A, section 100A and Part IVA, and cross-border regimes including thin capitalisation, hybrid mismatch rules and TOFA.
Contributions to The Tax Institute community
Arda is an active contributor to The Tax Institute's technical publications and events. He also authored the cover article for Tax Specialist in October 2023, 'Restructuring using roll-overs', examining the practical application of Subdivision 122-A, 124-M and 328-G roll-overs in private group restructures and the integrity issues that commonly arise in those transactions.
He presented at the 2025 NSW Tax Forum on 'The use of trusts in the 21st century - is the complexity worth it?', addressing the commercial utility of trusts alongside the integrity overlays (including section 100A, Division 7A and Part IVA) that increasingly shape how they are used in practice. He is also presenting at the 2026 NSW Tax Forum on 'Year-End Trustee Resolutions' (Session 12A, Day 2), covering the drafting of year-end resolutions, the streaming of capital gains and franked distributions, the application of sections 99B and 100A and Division 7A, circumstances in which Part IVA may apply, and current risk themes from recent trustee resolution disputes.
Arda regularly attends Tax Institute events and values the Institute as the profession's primary forum for rigorous technical debate.
Why they want to be on State Council:
Arda wants to be on State Council as he believes the Institute plays an indispensable role in maintaining the technical standards and professional identity of tax practitioners. He wants to contribute to its work at the local level in a more structured way.
Having trained across Big 4 firms (EY and KPMG), specialist tax boutiques (Birchstone Tax Law, Fry Legal and West Garbutt) and a national commercial firm (Mills Oakley) before establishing his own specialist tax practice, he has experienced the profession from a range of vantage points and is well placed to reflect the perspectives of sole practitioners, boutique and mid-tier firm lawyers, and the broader independent tax community, whose views warrant strong representation alongside those of the larger firms.
If appointed, his priorities would be: supporting high quality technical CPD for NSW and ACT members, building on the success of the NSW Tax Forum and its Next Generation stream; strengthening pathways for newer practitioners through mentoring and junior member engagement; and ensuring the Institute continues to reflect both the legal and accounting arms of the tax profession, recognising the increasingly converged nature of the work. He is committed to the time required and sees Council participation as a natural extension of existing contributions to the Institute.