Tax

The Full Court has dealt a blow to a sacked Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills partner seeking $13 million in compensation from his former firm and Lendlease, finding new whistleblower protections do not apply retrospectively to cover his claims.

The son of former ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston has been jailed for a minimum 10 years for his leading role in a $105 million tax evasion scheme.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers partner has won his lawsuit against the professional services firm over his forced dismissal, with a judge finding the decision breached a partnership agreement and that the firm had acknowledged the partner did not misuse confidential ATO information.

Tax advisers and firms promoting tax avoidance could face penalties of up to $780 million, as part of a suite of reforms the government is calling “the biggest crackdown on tax adviser misconduct in Australian history”.

The Commissioner of Taxation has appealed a judgment that found reinsurer Hannover life should be allowed tax credits for GST paid on a share of its overheads, including rent and power.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers partner who is suing the accounting firm for giving him the boot over a tax leaks scandal has won an interim injunction restraining the board of partners from forcing him to leave before his case is heard.

Senior EY partners have condemned PwC and attempted to distance the firm from the scandal that has rocked the industry, but its cleanskin claims were met with scepticism by senators, who questioned the failure to provide EY’s partnership deed and remuneration details.

A former law firm partner has lost his scrap with the Australian Taxation Office over exit payments he received on retirement, with a court ruling his $180,000 payout could not be offset against repayments made to the partnership's capital account. 

A court has blessed a trust’s settlement with Ernst & Young that resolves a negligence case linked to a decade-long tax dispute that went to the High Court, rejecting an objection to the deal and saying it was "time this matter was brought to a conclusion".

The tax leaks scandal engulfing PricewaterhouseCoopers has been referred to the newly formed National Anti-Corruption Commission, as the accounting firm sacks eight partners for professional governance breaches.