Terry Hayes' Blog

Terry heads Thomson Reuters’s tax newsroom with responsibility for all our tax news services, including Latest Tax News and Weekly Tax Bulletin. He is also the Technical Editor of The Australian Financial Planning Handbook. Terry’s experience stems from senior levels in the Tax Office and the ‘Big 4’ environment. He is also a Registered Tax Agent and has been with Thomson Reuters for 10 years.

In-house tax advisers and the new tax agent regime

The press has recently carried reports of concerns among in-house tax advisers about how the provisions of the new Tax Agent Services Regime might affect them. The new Tax Practitioners Board has been looking at this issue. It said suggestions had been made that there may be an anomaly in the case of a wholly ...more

Should accountants be able to give broad advice about super?

Currently, under the Corporations Law, accountants are not required to be licensed under the financial services regime (ie they do not need an Australian financial services licence – AFSL) where they advise on the establishment, structure or operations of a super fund, including making recommendations that a person acquire or dispose of a self-managed super ...more

There once was a tax review…

As tax practitioners will know, there have been several tax reviews in Australia over the years – Asprey, and the Ralph Review to name but 2. And we’ve had several animal and insect tax reviews – such as ANTS (the A New Tax System measures) and RATS (Reform of the Australian Tax System)! A very ...more

Something else for tax practitioners to worry about

Why is it the popular myth persists that tax agents are mostly busy around 30 June? Maybe the general populace really doesn’t comprehend just how horrendously complicated the tax and related laws are. Tax overlaps with social security, Medicare, trees, doctors, and on and on it goes.
 Not content with that, some new changes planned will ...more

Fighting the good fight – against tax crime

The Government has released its latest figures on the success of Project Wickenby in the fight against tax crime. Tax collections are just over $160m, although just over $530m in tax liabilities have been raised. And raised does not mean collected – the 2 are quite different. The ATO often raises tax liabilities by issuing ...more

Helpful light shines on CGT complexity

Helpful light shines on CGT complexity

We’ve all heard of the 2 certainties – death and taxes. Capital gains tax (CGT) neatly fits into the tax certainty – it is likely to appear almost everywhere.
 CGT is one of the most ubiquitous taxes in the Australian tax system. It’s not too trite to say that almost every transaction a practitioner may advise ...more

Chasing high interest rate accounts – at least the Govt is happy!

With banks chasing funds, the interest rates on many savings accounts are at higher than expected levels. Rates approaching 8% for term deposits are not unheard of. The press is full of headlines that those looking to save are in the box seat. Well yes and no!
 Those happiest about the investment rates currently on offer ...more

Financial services and super reviews – are we all reviewed out?

Financial services and super reviews – are we all reviewed out?

In April this year (ie before the 2009 Federal Budget), the Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, Senator Nick Sherry, and a coalition of peak superannuation industry bodies released a Communiqué of Principles on the Australian superannuation system, including a resolution that the current operational features of the system be examined. Sherry said this review ...more

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