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Get your personal income tax position right

We will make sure you pay what you owe, and that you can show why that is the right number.

Most people with a complicated tax return did not set out to have one. It accumulated. A rental property, some shares, a family trust distribution, a redundancy payment, a share scheme from an old employer. Each was a reasonable decision on its own, and together they produce a return where several items have more than one defensible treatment. The Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) (the Tax Act) does not care that the complexity arrived by accident.

Speak to a lawyer What is included

A return you can explain

Every position has a recorded basis, which is what reasonable care looks like if the ATO asks.

Errors corrected on your initiative

A voluntary amendment attracts far lower penalties than the same error found through data matching.

Advice on the structure, not just the return

Where the arrangement itself produces the wrong outcome, we tell you what changing it would cost.

What makes a personal tax position complicated?

A personal tax position becomes complicated when income arrives from sources taxed under different rules. Salary is withheld at source and largely settled. Investment income, trust distributions, capital gains, foreign income and employee share scheme interests are each different. Every one has its own timing, concessions and reporting. The difficulty is rarely any single item. It is that the items interact, and the right treatment of one can depend on another.

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Why would I need a lawyer rather than an accountant for my tax?

For most returns you would not. A lawyer becomes useful where a position is uncertain, where a structure is involved, or where the treatment of an item could be challenged. Accountants prepare and lodge. We advise on whether a position is correct and on whether it can be supported.

What if I have claimed something incorrectly in past years?

It can usually be amended. Amendments made voluntarily, before any review begins, attract substantially lower penalties than errors the ATO finds itself. There are time limits on amending, and they differ depending on the circumstances, so it is worth raising early.

How far back can the ATO amend my assessment?

The standard period is two years for most individuals and four years for more complex affairs. There is no time limit where there has been fraud or evasion. Because the periods differ, the answer depends on your particular circumstances.

Does data matching really pick up everything?

It covers a great deal. Bank interest, dividends, property transactions, share and cryptocurrency trades and foreign account information all flow to the ATO. A mismatch is generated automatically and does not need anyone to have raised a concern.

Get the position reviewed before you lodge

Send us last year’s return and tell us what has changed. We will review the treatment of each item and tell you where the position needs support.

The return is not the problem, the position behind it is

You have income from several sources and you are not confident that all of it has been treated correctly. The return gets lodged each year because it has to be. What has never happened is a proper look at whether the positions taken are the right ones. Nobody has asked whether they could be supported if the ATO enquired.

We will review the treatment applied to each source of income in your return.
We will tell you where a position is finely balanced, and set out the basis for it.
We will identify any deduction, offset or concession you are entitled to and have not claimed.
We will advise on amending any position that has been treated incorrectly.
We will tell you whether your structure is producing the wrong outcome, and what changing it costs.

Your return has grown more complicated than your adviser's fee suggests

You earn well, and the money now comes from more than one place. There is salary, or a business, and alongside it property, investments, a trust, perhaps something from overseas. Your return is prepared each year by someone who is careful with the figures you give them. Nobody has stepped back and asked whether the structure producing those figures is the right one, or whether the treatments have ever been tested.

What's included in your personal tax review

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Review of the treatment applied to each income source.
A written basis for any position that is finely balanced.
Deduction, offset and concession review.
Voluntary amendment advice where a past treatment was wrong.
Structural advice where the current arrangement produces a poor outcome.
A file recording why each position was adopted.

What an untested position costs when it is examined

An incorrect tax position is rarely discovered in the year it is taken. It is discovered later, and applied to every year since.

The ATO’s data matching now covers bank interest, dividends, property transactions, share trades, cryptocurrency exchanges, private health cover and foreign account information. A mismatch does not require anyone to have been suspicious. It arrives automatically.

By the time it does, the amendment usually reaches back across several years. Interest runs on each of them, and penalties are assessed by reference to whether reasonable care was taken. A position that would have been perfectly defensible with contemporaneous advice becomes very hard to defend without it. This is the part people underestimate. The question is not whether a treatment is arguable, but whether you can show why it was adopted.

From a return you hope is right to a position you can stand behind

We review the position rather than the arithmetic. That means looking at each source of income, the treatment applied to it, and whether that treatment is the correct one on the facts.

Where a position is finely balanced, we say so and set out the basis for it. That leaves a record of why it was taken. Where something has been treated incorrectly, we advise on amending it, which carries far lower penalties when done voluntarily. Where the structure itself is producing the wrong outcome, we tell you what a better one looks like and what moving would cost. You end up with a return that is correct, and a file that explains it.

How we review your personal tax position

Test each treatment, then document why it was taken.

Map the income

We list every source of income and the treatment currently applied to each of them.

Test the treatments

We check each position against the law, and tell you which are sound and which need support.

Correct and record

We amend anything that was wrong, and document the basis for every position that stands.

Every treatment tested, and the reasoning recorded

There is a quiet unease that comes with a return you cannot fully explain. You are not trying to avoid anything. You simply do not know whether the answer you signed is the right one.

One of our lawyers is a Chartered Tax Advisor with The Tax Institute and has held that credential for 25 years. We are also recognised in Doyle’s Guide for tax law. We advise individuals with income from several sources, including trusts, property, share schemes and foreign holdings. We also act for taxpayers in disputes with the ATO, which is a useful thing for the person taking the position to have seen.

Our great lawyer guarantee

Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.

Take the time

We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.

Share our knowledge

We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.

Stick to our knitting

We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.

Work as one team

Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.

Fair pricing

A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.

It is your show

We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.

Have your position reviewed properly

Send us your last return and a summary of your income sources. We will review the treatment of each one and tell you where the position needs support.

Speak to a lawyer 1300 654 590