Session 3.2

Tax and ESG – How tax is being used as a lever

Speakers: Sarah Saville, ATI, PwC, Jayde Thompson, PwC

Sustainability and the impact of corporates on the environment has become both a fundamental and a political issue. The use of taxes and similar mechanisms

to encourage behaviour and incentivise investment is a key part of policies to address this challenge.

This session will discuss this trend and the impact it has on organisations.

Session 3.3

Moving on from COVID-19 – where are we now?

Speaker: Jackie Shelton, KPMG

There have been unprecedented changes in the ways businesses have been conducted over the last two years, along with rapid responses from the Federal Government and the ATO, some with temporary and some with lasting implications. 

This session considers the tax issues for businesses as they adapt and move forward, including:

• ATO guidance on prolonged employee displacement and business travel due to the pandemic, corporate and individual tax residence and permanent establishment considerations
• Considerations on how new ways of working may shape future tax legislation and guidance including ATO proposed revised corporate and individual tax residency definitions, whether the current definition of a commuter remains fit for purpose and whether the ‘source of income’ default position being where the work is physically performed still holds, and
• ATO compliance activity in this area.

Session 3.4

Structuring for flexible profit sharing

Speaker: Greg Travers, CTA, William Buck

The complexities of today’s business environment see people contribute, and look to get rewarded, in many ways. It is unusual for business profits to be shared strictly along equity lines, given the diverse contributions being made of capital, skills, qualifications and experience, innovation and time and effort – as well as managing exposure to commercial risks. This session will consider how professional practice entity structures can effectively be utilised to address these challenges, despite taxation guidelines. 

Session 3.5

The Do’s and Don’ts of Division 7A

Speaker: Kaitilin Lowdon, ATI, Arnold Bloch Leibler

Division 7A continues to be an important matter for private companies. In the absence of long-awaited reforms, the provisions continue to apply as drafted. The ATO continue to receive data on Division 7A, and for many clients the issue is a perpetual one. This session will cover:

• A short refresher on the basics
• Non-cash ‘payments’ – what’s in and what’s out?
• Having the Division 7A discussion with your client – is it really their money?
• What’s the plan to get the Division 7A monkey off your client’s back?

Session 4.2

Putting the ‘Tax’ in ESG – Corporate Governance and Tax

Speakers: Adam Coonan, EY Law, Jesper Solgaard, EY

Corporate governance and the ‘social licence’ have become a common theme with heightened expectations of boards to both exhibit and model expected behaviours. Corporates who do not embrace this changing landscape will find themselves left behind.

In this session we discuss how tax gets a seat at the table and the role of tax in the broader ESG movement.

Session 4.3

Employee Share Plans – Latest developments

Speakers: Andrew Clements, FTI, King & Wood Mallesons, Jack Hill, King & Wood Mallesons, Tim Sherman, CTA, King & Wood Mallesons

There have been several developments in the last 12 months in the rules relating to employee share plans. This session will provide an overview of the updates and consider the practical implications of those developments for employers and employees, including:

• The removal of the deferred taxing point on cessation of employment
• Tax Determinations TD 2022/4 and TD 2022/8, and
• The new corporate disclosure rules

Session 4.4

Partnership Tips and Traps

Speaker: John Ioannou, CTA, Macpherson Kelley

Despite partnerships being one of the oldest business structures, they continue to be misunderstood because of confusion between their status for tax purposes and their treatment for general purposes. This session will touch on the basics but explore some of the more interesting and practical issues you would expect to canvass in practice when dealing with general law partnerships, including:

• Partnership agreement basics
• Partnerships of trusts – use of nominee and/or common trustee
• Limited partnerships
• Partnerships of individuals and use of service trusts
• No goodwill partnerships, and
• Professional standards and regulations.

Session 4.5

Individual Residency

Speaker: Edward Hennebry, FTI, Sladen Legal

An Australian resident is assessable on income derived from all sources, but a non-resident is generally only assessable on income derived from sources in Australia. Therefore, the question of residence assumes greater importance in determining tax liability and is one area all practitioners need to be across. This session covers areas that practitioners should be familiar with, including:

• The tests for determining Australian residency for income tax purposes
• Taxation rulings, and
• Temporary residency versus Australian resident, and the resulting consequences.

Session 5.2

20 years of Tax Consolidation

Speaker: James Macky, CTA, KPMG, Steve Plant, KPMG

This session will look at the impact of tax consolidation over the last 20 years. The session will set out the original objectives of the tax consolidation rules and consider whether these objectives are being met, discuss the evolution of the provisions to resolve matters that arose in the earlier years of tax consolidation and consider their on-going impact on cost-setting outcomes, and look at the issues that remain unresolved or create uncertainty for companies and advisers.

Session 5.3

Legal Professional Privilege

Speakers: Martin Caplice, EY, Faith Harako, Australian Taxation Office, Melissa Spurge, Australian Taxation Office

The ATO has recently published its guidance to taxpayers and advisers making LPP claims in response to formal notices. The protocol supports the right of taxpayers to keep their communications confidential. 

At the same time, it provides a framework for taxpayers that allows the ATO to have confidence that relevant information and documents have been provided to the ATO in accordance with the formal notice.

This session will provide different perspectives and practical insights on the ongoing developments in relation to LPP.  It will include:

• An overview of the ATO’s protocol
• ATO views and common concerns
• An adviser’s perspective on how to manage LPP
• Practical guidance on how organisations can ensure they understand their entitlements appropriately, and
• A summary of how to prepare clearly documented governance approaches to comply with the relevant requirements.

Session 5.4

Professional Practice Structures

Speaker: David Hughes, CTA, McCullough Robertson

There is good reason for PSI/PSBs to continue to be intertwined with professional practice structuring. This session will walk through some tips and traps when dealing with PSI/PSBs as well as review some considerations when structuring professional practices that fall outside the PSI/PSB framework.

Session 5.5

Recent trends – Capital versus Revenue

Speaker: Melanie Baker, CTA, Victorian Bar

The concept of capital versus revenue has been a part of the income tax law since the beginning, and is still an important concept to this day. Even though Australia has a detailed capital gains tax regime, the characterisation of a gain (or loss) as capital or revenue can have significant implications across a number of areas. It has a significant impact on property transactions, and flow on effects into deductions and GST.

This session provides a back-to-basics analysis of the concept, providing highlights of the issue and guidance as to what to look for in such transactions. It will also consider recent trends in this area, the focus of the ATO and the main recent cases that continue to shape this area.

Session 6.2

Recent Trends – Part IVA and Div 165

Speaker: Fiona Knight, CTA, Australian Taxation Office, Eugene Wheelahan, KC, FTI, Victorian Bar

More than ever, SMEs and large corporates and their advisers must consider the risk that the Commissioner may apply a general anti-avoidance rule to an arrangement. This session will discuss focus areas of ATO activity, GAAR Panel trends and recent decisions relating to Part IVA and Division 165.

The DPT continues to attract ATO attention and the difference between the dominant purpose and a principal purpose test will be explored in detail.

Session 6.3

Community Benefit and Philanthropic Giving – A client journey

Speakers: Morag Ingham, CTA, Grant Thornton, Rachel Vijayaraj, CTA, Brown Wright Stein

With many wealthy families and businesses wanting to ‘give back’ or contribute to the causes that are important to them, more than they have ever done before, advisers need to help clients understand the structural and taxation issues associated with their giving. In highlighting that it is much more than a choice between a one-off cash gift and establishing a PAF, this session will consider:

• The gifting continuum
• Accommodating non-DGR purposes, and
• Choices of philanthropic vehicle and when they are effective.

Session 6.4

Client Certificates and Support letters – are they worth the risk?

Speaker: Mark Tomsic, Grant Thornton 

Accountants and lawyers strive to provide the best support they can to help clients achieve their goals while managing the significant risks associated with professional practice. However, some tasks involve more risks than others and need to be approached carefully. In considering how to approach completion of Sophisticated Investor Certificates and letters of support for finance applications, this session will explore the key dos and don’ts:

• Certification: to whom and what standard of evidence is required?
• Assessing the Control Test in relation to trusts, companies and SMSFs
• Measuring Gross Income and Net Assets of various entities
• Wealth test versus financial literacy – does it matter?
• Risks of finance application support and capacity-topay letters, and
• Professional/TPB obligations.

Session 6.5

Revisiting Goodwill

Speaker: Dr Nick Gangemi, CTA, William Buck

Goodwill as a concept is important in both a legal and a commercial setting. In a legal setting, it has an impact across a number of areas of law, from taxation to commercial transactions to the law of passing off. In the commercial setting, goodwill is recognised as an asset for accounting purposes. All practitioners, particularly those new to the profession, need to understand goodwill and implications that arise because of its existing. The purpose of this session is to provide a refresher on what is goodwill and its tax implications, and will cover the following topics:

• The legal definitions of goodwill, as espoused in the cases of Muller’s Margarine, Murry and Placer Dome
• Contrasting the accounting and legal definitions
• Valuing and transferring goodwill
• The impact of goodwill on tax, and
• The impact of recent cases