We investigate the consequences of public disclosure of information from company income tax returns filed in Australia. Supporters of more disclosure argue that increased transparency will improve tax compliance, while opponents argue that it will divulge sensitive information that is, in many...

Section 16 of the Estate and Gift Duties Act 1968 catches death benefits left by a deceased who was a member of any superannuation scheme. The case of Hounsell v CIR (SC Wellington, 17 April 1975, M274/73) illustrates that considerable duty can be payable on such a scheme. Some estate planning...

In 2008, the Australian Labor government announced a review of Australia’s Future Tax System which reports at the end of 2009. The Review has a broad remit to examine Australia’s federal and state tax and transfer (welfare) systems. Gender issues are at play in some crucial parts of the...

This paper critically evaluates the legal design of Australia’s GST (a value added tax) in light of recent OECD work on the consumption tax treatment of cross-border transactions. An emerging consensus from the OECD suggests that, for business to business supplies, consumption taxes should use...

Over the last few years, the governments of both Australia and New Zealand have introduced a range of measures to encourage venture capital investments in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The schemes are heavily regulated and have been specifically designed to support the development...

Direct taxation of persons who receive distributions of surplus assets in the liquidation of Australian companies occurs under either the deemed dividends or capital gains regimes. Section 47 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) has deemed dividends for income taxation for over 80 years...

This article concentrates on the atypical anti-profiteering system under the Indian GST and its comparison with similar mechanisms adopted earlier in two other countries—Australia and Malaysia. The Indian anti-profiteering provision was introduced to ensure that tax benefits resulting from the...

This article, quot;The Taxing Law of Taxpayer Standing,quot; is a comprehensive exploration of the issues raised by the Supreme Court case Hein v. Freedom from Religion, et al, 551 U.S. __ (2007). The Court in Hein denied standing to federal taxpayers challenging President Bush's faith-based...

This paper analyses the methods adopted by Australia and New Zealand to tax companies and their shareholders in four key periods from 1945 to 2005. For each period the major concern of the paper is with an analysis of the factors contributing to effective tax rates for different types of...

In this article, the author outlines the historical context for the operation of the GST in Australia and its integration in the financial relations between the federal and state governments. The Australian experience is contrasted with Brazil's federal and state VAT regimes and the Brazilian...