Master of Tax

This core tax subject examines the law, policy and structural features of capital gains tax (CGT) in Australia and considers and applies CGT rules in a number of different private and business contexts. The subject examines the operation of CGT in detail in the context of the treatment of information and goodwill, earn-outs, the application of CGT to non-residents, in relation to real estate transactions, litigation and the use of trusts and deceased estates.

Principal topics include:

• Structure of the capital gains tax system and its interaction with other tax provisions
• Selected CGT Events and their key concepts
• The CGT treatment of information and goodwill
• The CGT treatment of earn-outs
• The application of CGT to non-residents
• CGT and business structures, restructuring, available rollovers and the small business CGT concessions
• Capital gains tax problems in conveyancing and real estate development
• Capital gains tax problems in compensation payouts
• Capital gains tax problems in trusts and estates.

This core tax subject examines the policies, detailed rules and current practical problems involved in the taxation of companies and shareholders in Australia, particularly at shareholder level. The lecturers are leading practitioners and they will consider the tax rules that apply to shares, corporate distributions, Australia‘s imputation system, the debt-equity integrity rules and corporate rollovers

This subject consists of a detailed examination of the tax rules applied to companies and shareholders in a domestic setting in Australia, with a focus on issues at the shareholder level.

Principal topics include:

• The policy and problems of taxing companies and shareholders
• Tax treatment of contributions of share capital and assets to a company
• Debt-equity classification
• The corporate shareholder imputation system
• Private company deemed dividends
• Franking credit and capital streaming and associated anti-avoidance rules
• Taxation of company distributions and dealings with interests in companies, including liquidations and share buybacks
• Corporate rollovers.

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This core tax subject examines the fundamentals of taxation, with a focus on Australia’s most important tax: the personal income tax. It engages with the tax law that is most relevant to legal and tax practice for individuals and businesses.

This subject equips students to interpret statutory tax rules and apply judicial approaches, and to understand the policy and implications of tax reform in this fast-changing and challenging area of law. Foundations of Tax Law is a required subject for international tax students and is recommended for all masters students who have had little previous study or experience in tax law and wish to gain a solid grounding in the area

Principal topics include:

• Overview of federal and state taxes in Australia, how tax laws are made, sources of tax law, tax policy and design principles and reform
• The structure of the income tax, concept of income and tax rates
• Income tax law, including calculation of taxable income; definition of income from services, property and business, capital gains, deductions and treatment of business and investment assets
• Overview of income tax of business and investment entities
• Tax avoidance and evasion, and the general anti-avoidance rule.

Effective tax administration is fundamental to achieving tax policy goals. This subject examines the practical issues that arise in the administration of the Australian tax system and tax administration generally. The sessions will explore in depth the administrative role of the Federal Commissioner of Taxation (FCT) in Australia's tax regime, the FCT's general powers and the interaction of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) with taxpayers, tax professionals and other authorities and agencies. The subject will also include international comparisons as relevant.

The subject will be taught by the Inspector-General of Taxation, Ali Noroozi.

Principal topics include:

• Tax administration under a self-assessment regime
• The FCT's general powers of administration
• The FCT's remedial powers
• The structure of the ATO, including the corporate governance regime and internal checks and balances
• The interaction of the FCT and the ATO with the tax profession and the role of the Tax Practitioners Board
• The ATO's interaction with taxpayers
• External scrutiny of the ATO by government and other agencies and authorities
• The ATO's role in tax policy advice and law design
• The ATO's interaction with other Australian government agencies
• The ATO's interaction with international agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

This core tax subject is designed to explore in detail the fundamental principles of income tax, fringe benefits tax and capital gains tax in relation to business and investment. It will provide the requisite skills and knowledge to identify and better deal with income tax problems that arise in practice and in other tax subjects. The lecturers are leading practitioners or academics with extensive experience in the field.

Principal topics include:

• The structure of the Australian income tax system
• The structure of the legislation, interaction mechanisms and derivation
• Multi-step transactions
• Deferred payments
• Expense characterisation and calculation of cost
• Valuation and conditions of employment
• Reimbursements and apportionment of deductions
• Capital gains tax: dissecting receipts and part disposals
• Deemed disposals
• Capital allowances and cost-base write-down
• Creation of liabilities
• Reimbursement and recovery of expenses.

This core tax subject will examine Australia’s Goods and Services Tax (GST). The subject identifies the core legislative features in Australia’s GST contained in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999.

The subject includes:

• reference to the value-added tax systems in other jurisdictions such as the European Union, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Singapore; and
• analysis of rulings and cases that are relevant to the operation of, and compliance with, Australia’s GST in practice.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to the GST: the objectives of a tax on household consumption expenditure and the design features and legislative scheme of Australia’s GST
• GST’s ‘basic rules’ and the legislative building blocks contained in the GST law: the taxable person, consumption expenditure, tax value, registration, jurisdictional scope, supplies to and from offshore, exemptions, the destination principle (exports and imports) and input tax relief.
• A legislative overview of the Australian GST treatment of the “difficult to tax” issues: real property and financial services.

The Australian states and territories levy various taxes on businesses and individuals, including payroll tax, land tax, duties on conveyances, leases and other transfers and workers’ compensation levies. Interpreting and complying with this multitude of taxes, only some of which are harmonised across state borders, poses significant challenges for Australian businesses and state revenue agencies alike. Many jurisdictions are enacting more comprehensive anti-avoidance and business entity rules in key state taxes – for example, those applying to trusts or corporate groups – and there is increasing litigation on state taxes in courts around the country. This subject will provide tax professionals with an advanced knowledge of the structure and practical operation of state taxes and duties in a commercial context, taking account of the most recent trends and developments in this field.

This subject will consider in detail the operation of various state taxes and duties, in particular:

• Duties
• Land tax
• Payroll tax and workers’ compensation levies.

Principal topics include:

• Analysis and comparison of duties, land tax, payroll tax and workers’ compensation levies legislation in Victoria and other jurisdictions
• Consideration of duty liabilities on various documented and undocumented transactions 
• Consideration of the nature of land holdings that are subject to land tax and how different types of land holder entities are taxed
• Consideration of the types of compensation that are subject to payroll tax and/or workers’ compensation levies
• The broad range of anti-avoidance provisions
• Exemptions from state taxes, duties and levies
• Administration of the state taxes system, including obligations to provide information and rights to object to assessments and appeal

This subject will address critical issues in the taxation treatment of activities relating to the development of new knowledge and products. Australia has a comprehensive but complex system that provides taxation concessions for expenditure on innovation, which this subject will examine in detail.   The subject does not assume a tax background.

The general income tax and capital gains implications of income and expenditure in relation to the development of intellectual property, both domestically and internationally, will be considered. A key component of this subject is understanding the underlying policy drivers in Australia and other jurisdictions.

Principal topics include:

• What is research and development?
• The elements of intellectual property at general law and their impact on its taxation
• The source of intellectual property (IP) in an inter(net)connected world
• Research and development concessions and the regulatory regime
• The advantages of early stage innovation companies (ESICs) and early stage venture capital limited partnerships (ESVCLPs)
• The assessability of income from, and deductibility of expenditure on, the innovation of products and the development and exploitation of intellectual property
• The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)effect and transfer pricing of intellectual property
• Litigation of research and development disputes and their unique problems.

This subject examines both general and specific anti-avoidance provisions in Australia and in comparable jurisdictions. The subject will examine in detail the provisions of Part IVA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth), as well as its Goods and Services Tax (GST) equivalent, and consider the differences between permissible tax planning and impermissible tax avoidance.

Principal topics include:

• Concepts of tax avoidance
• General anti-avoidance provisions
• Specific anti-avoidance provisions
• Judicial responses to tax avoidance
• Obligations of taxpayers and advisers in relation to tax avoidance
• Tax avoidance and consolidation.

This specialist subject taught by leading members of the Victorian Bar specialising in tax, teaches all of the legal principles associated with tax litigation. It addresses the system of tax appeals, administrative and judicial review of decisions made by the Commissioner, evidence-gathering and the preparation of objections, tax appeal statements, affidavits, expert reports and legal submissions in a tax case. It explains how tax cases are tried and how they are dealt with at appellate level. It also covers the rulings system, the imposition and review of penalties and the Commissioner‘s rights of recovery. The focus of the subject is on the practical, and not theoretical, application of these principles.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction and the appeals process under Part IVC of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth)
• Challenging an assessment, objections, objections decisions and appeal
• The audit process and the Commissioner‘s information-gathering powers
• Interlocutory steps for getting a case ready for trial, including the Federal Court Taxation Practice Note No.1
• Written advocacy—the different needs at various stages of the appeals process
• The hearing
• Use of expert witnesses
• Appeals to Federal, Full Federal and High Courts
• The rulings process
• Judicial review of decisions made by the Commissioner
• Recovery of tax.

Taxation of Mergers and Acquisitionsis a capstone subject in the Master of Taxation, designed for tax professionals and government officials who wish to complete or update their education in corporate tax law and practice. Coordinated and taught by some of Australia’s leading tax advisers, it is focused around a series of topical issues. Using a detailed analysis of these issues, it provides students with in-depth, commercially relevant knowledge of the tax rules for mergers and acquisitions of public and private companies and consolidated corporate groups.

Topics include the application of rollovers that benefit shareholders and companies engaged in takeovers and mergers, especially involving consolidated groups, as well as applicable tax integrity rules and recent and ongoing tax reform.

Principal topics include:

• Corporate capital gains tax rollovers for mergers, acquisitions and disposals, including Divisions 124, 125 and 126 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth), in particular scrip for scrip, demerger and various corporate restructure rollovers
• The interaction of tax rules relating to mergers, acquisitions and restructures with key elements of the tax rules for consolidated corporate groups in Part 3-90 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) including rules for tax cost setting on entry and exit, foreign-owned multiple entry consolidated groups, tax-sharing and payment, due diligence and corporate risk
• The interaction of tax rules relating to mergers, acquisitions and disposal with the imputation system and corporate financing tax rules.

Although relevant for all superannuation funds, this subject focuses heavily on self-managed superannuation funds (‘SMSFs’). This subject deals with the underlying policies, technical rules and current practical problems in relation to the taxation of SMSFs and their prudential management. In particular, it considers what investments and structures superannuation funds can use while still attracting concessional tax treatment along with how income is taxed, the treatment of contributions to those funds and the taxation of benefits paid. It also includes a detailed consideration of succession planning issues and how to apply those considerations in practice.

Principal topics include:

• The Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) and the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (Cth): Detailed consideration of the key investment and other prudential rules, the policy behind them and how to apply them in practice
• Taxation of superannuation: overview of policy and legislative framework for contributions, investment and the payment of benefits, as well as the different structuring options available to practitioners
• Succession planning: the key rules, where there often is a difference between what an SMSF member wants and what the rules allow, how best to seek to ensure that a member’s wishes are achieved and the interplay with tax (including stamp duty) efficiency.

This core tax subject will examine in depth the Australian income tax rules applicable to trusts, including significant new and ongoing reforms and policy developments. It will apply these rules to the range of applications of trusts, including private trusts such as unit trusts, family discretionary trusts, public managed investment funds, real estate investment trusts, nominee trusts, and stapled structures used by large businesses.

Principal topics include:

• Definition and types of trust at law and for tax purposes and framework of trust tax rules
• Trust distributions, beneficiaries and trustees, present entitlement, net income and flow-through of tax attributes, such as franking credits and capital gains
• Trust losses
• Anti-avoidance and integrity rules
• Capital gains tax for trusts, including formation, distributions, termination, unit trusts and deceased estates
• Managed investment and real estate unit trusts, public trading trusts, and stapled and other trust structures
• Trust tax reform and new developments.

Globalisation is driving corporate tax systems closer together and often into conflict. For many tax practitioners, it is now not enough to know their own corporate tax system—they must grapple with and question the operation of other corporate tax systems. This subject seeks to develop an ability to understand and analyse any corporate tax system and assess its impact on corporate decision-making. With a dedicated textbook (written by the presenter), this subject compares a number of influential and archetypal corporate tax systems (both common law and civil law) and assesses their behaviour in the context of practical problems. For tax professionals, this subject develops an ability to ask direct and informed questions about a foreign corporate tax system and discuss that system at a high level with foreign tax professionals.

This subject will compare and analyse income tax law in selected countries (Australia, Germany, the US and the UK) and consider how these laws interface with corporate law. Other jurisdictions may also be covered briefly during the course and students are permitted to cover other countries in their research paper.

Principal topics include:

• Identification of entities (including hybrids) subject to corporation tax
• Corporate groups and service companies
• Debt versus equity and dividend relief
• Cross-border corporate income and dividends
• Gains/losses on the disposal of shares, takeovers and trading in loss companies
• Corporate formation, share buy-backs and liquidation
• Bonus issues, convertible notes, mergers and demergers.

This subject will provide a detailed comparative analysis of the principal topics in international taxation. The core principles of international income tax will be examined, with the different approaches taken by nations (developed, emerging, and developing countries) outlined and critiqued. The compatibility of international tax systems in dealing with international transactions will be examined, and key areas of mismatch and overlap identified. The ongoing reform of international tax rules under the O.E.C.D. Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project will be considered. This subject will equip students to analyse international tax issues using a comparative approach and to acquire a deep understanding of the underlying structural, institutional, and policy influences that have shaped international income tax systems. This knowledge is directly applicable to analysing international tax problems in any particular country.

Principal topics include:

• Jurisdiction to tax (residence and source)
• Taxation of foreign income of residents, including elimination of double taxation
• Deductibility of expenses to earn dividends from foreign corporations
• Controlled foreign company rules
• Taxation of non-residents
• Thin capitalisation rules
• Tax treaties
• BEPS issues.

This core international tax subject is of central importance given Australia’s ever-growing role in the global economy. This subject covers the fundamental international income tax rules that apply where income or capital gains are derived in circumstances that have a connection with Australia. It considers Australia’s tax jurisdiction of residence and source, and relief from double taxation under domestic law and tax treaties. It also examines measures to prevent tax avoidance, such as controlled foreign company measures and transfer pricing.

This subject is designed to explore in detail the fundamental principles of Australia’s international taxation regime. The subject will examine both the issues of tax design and policy, and the relevant provisions in the legislation, cases and rulings.

Principal topics include:

• Principles of international taxation
• Rules for determining residence and source
• Domestic rules for the taxation of residents’ foreign income (foreign income tax offsets, accruals taxation of foreign income and exemption of foreign income)
• Domestic rules for the taxation of non-residents’ Australian source income (business income, interest, dividends and royalties)
• Introduction to tax treaties
• Introduction to thin capitalisation rules.

Today, attention is increasingly focused on tax reform to deliver revenue for spending on public goods so as to achieve fair and sustainable economic development in countries across the globe. This subject examines tax policy to finance development goals and sustainable governments. The subject addresses budget laws; policy and law design principles for taxation, including equity, market efficiency and tax administration; and key taxes. It will analyse how national governments and international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) engage in tax policy and reform and seek to establish global norms and cooperation in taxation. The subject will present topical case studies of high and low income countries. It will address topical issues including tax transparency and multinational tax avoidance, the role of tax in addressing inequality, and international tax competition and cooperation between nations. It will equip participants from tax, development and international law backgrounds to analyse critically the law and policy of budgets and tax systems and the interaction between the global, national and local levels in tax reform.

Principal topics will include:

• Budget policy and laws, including fiscal balance or deficit, transparency and accountability
• Tax mix, tax structures and types of tax
• Tax policy and design principles: sustainability, efficiency, fairness, simplicity and administrability
• Selected tax policy and law issues for key taxes including the personal and company income tax, sales tax and resource taxation
• Tax incentives for foreign investment
• Tax competition and cooperation, tax avoidance and tax havens
• The domestic and international processes of tax treaties, norms and reform.

Globally, countries have negotiated more than 3,000 bilateral tax treaties and the number of treaties continues to grow. Tax Treaties provides an in-depth examination of international tax treaties, regarding both inbound and outbound investment. This subject uses the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Model Treaty and Commentary and examines important tax treaties of Australia and its major trading partners.

Associate Professor Michael Kobetsky has advised the United Nations (UN) and country governments on these issues. This lively, engaging and relevant subject equips students to deal with the most topical and advanced issues of international tax in the application and interpretation of tax treaties, including the meaning of permanent establishment and taxation of business profits, residence and source, the treatment of investment income, exchange of information and avoidance of double taxation.

Principal topics include:

• The role of tax treaties in preventing double taxation and tax avoidance
• Interpretation of tax treaties
• Relationship between tax treaties and domestic law
• Impact of tax treaties on investing in Australia
• Impact of tax treaties on investing overseas
• Entities and tax treaties
• The mutual agreement procedure
• Tax treaties and tax avoidance.

Tax treaties are an important aspect of the international tax system and an in-depth understanding of them is crucial for the modern international tax practitioner or administrator. Using a series of case studies, this subject will explore complex issues involving the interpretation and application of tax treaty provisions. Students will be required to analyse the application of key provisions to common scenarios faced by multinational companies and tax administrations. The subject will also cover important features of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.

The subject will be presented by Professor Carlo Garbarino of Bocconi University, author of “Judicial Interpretation of Tax Treaties – The Use of the OECD Commentary” (Elgar, 2016).

This subject provides and in-depth examination of the significant cases from around the world on tax treaty interpretation.

Principal topics that will be addressed during the subject include:

• Introduction to tax treaty judicial interpretation
• Scope of tax treaties, particularly the concept of ‘beneficial owner’
• Permanent establishment
• Business profits and associated enterprises
• Income from immovable property, capital gains and capital
• Income from equity and debt
• Royalties
• Non-discrimination (comparison with European Court of Justice tax cases).

The subject will also cover salient aspects of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.  This was one of the outcomes of the OECD/G20 project to tackle base erosion and profit shifting (the 'BEPS Project'), i.e. tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations where there is little or no economic activity, resulting in little or no overall corporate tax being paid.

This is an advanced subject on tax treaty interpretation and judicial applications of tax treaties. Discussion of each topic will be facilitated by the subject coordinator, followed by students’ presentations of leading cases.

International transfer pricing is the price charged for the cross-border transfer of assets or services between associated enterprises in a multinational enterprise group. Transfer pricing is consistently identified in international surveys of multinational enterprises as the most important tax issue they face. Multinational enterprises have to deal with demands from the various jurisdictions in which they operate as national tax agencies implement measures to protect their revenue from cross-border trade between associated entities.

This subject studies the Australian transfer pricing rules and their application. The Australian transfer pricing rules are based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Transfer Pricing Guidelines. This subject is designed for tax advisers, in-house tax managers and government officials, as well as those practising in transfer pricing. A background in transfer pricing is not required.

Principal topics include:

• OECD guidelines on transfer pricing
• Australia’s tax legislation and tax rulings on transfer pricing
• Australia’s tax treaties and transfer pricing
• Case law
• Transfer pricing methodologies—selection and application for the following transactions in respect of tangible goods, intangible assets, services and financial transactions
• Transfer pricing documentation requirements
• Performing a comparable search (benchmarking)
• Completing the transfer pricing section of the tax return
• Risk reviews and audit approach.

This core tax subject examines the law, policy and structural features of capital gains tax (CGT) in Australia and considers and applies CGT rules in a number of different private and business contexts. The subject examines the operation of CGT in detail in the context of the treatment of information and goodwill, earn-outs, the application of CGT to non-residents, in relation to real estate transactions, litigation and the use of trusts and deceased estates.

Principal topics include:

• Structure of the capital gains tax system and its interaction with other tax provisions
• Selected CGT Events and their key concepts
• The CGT treatment of information and goodwill
• The CGT treatment of earn-outs
• The application of CGT to non-residents
• CGT and business structures, restructuring, available rollovers and the small business CGT concessions
• Capital gains tax problems in conveyancing and real estate development
• Capital gains tax problems in compensation payouts
• Capital gains tax problems in trusts and estates.

This core tax subject examines the policies, detailed rules and current practical problems involved in the taxation of companies and shareholders in Australia, particularly at shareholder level. The lecturers are leading practitioners and they will consider the tax rules that apply to shares, corporate distributions, Australia‘s imputation system, the debt-equity integrity rules and corporate rollovers

This subject consists of a detailed examination of the tax rules applied to companies and shareholders in a domestic setting in Australia, with a focus on issues at the shareholder level.

Principal topics include:

• The policy and problems of taxing companies and shareholders
• Tax treatment of contributions of share capital and assets to a company
• Debt-equity classification
• The corporate shareholder imputation system
• Private company deemed dividends
• Franking credit and capital streaming and associated anti-avoidance rules
• Taxation of company distributions and dealings with interests in companies, including liquidations and share buybacks
• Corporate rollovers.

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This core tax subject examines the fundamentals of taxation, with a focus on Australia’s most important tax: the personal income tax. It engages with the tax law that is most relevant to legal and tax practice for individuals and businesses.

This subject equips students to interpret statutory tax rules and apply judicial approaches, and to understand the policy and implications of tax reform in this fast-changing and challenging area of law. Foundations of Tax Law is a required subject for international tax students and is recommended for all masters students who have had little previous study or experience in tax law and wish to gain a solid grounding in the area

Principal topics include:

• Overview of federal and state taxes in Australia, how tax laws are made, sources of tax law, tax policy and design principles and reform
• The structure of the income tax, concept of income and tax rates
• Income tax law, including calculation of taxable income; definition of income from services, property and business, capital gains, deductions and treatment of business and investment assets
• Overview of income tax of business and investment entities
• Tax avoidance and evasion, and the general anti-avoidance rule.

Effective tax administration is fundamental to achieving tax policy goals. This subject examines the practical issues that arise in the administration of the Australian tax system and tax administration generally. The sessions will explore in depth the administrative role of the Federal Commissioner of Taxation (FCT) in Australia's tax regime, the FCT's general powers and the interaction of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) with taxpayers, tax professionals and other authorities and agencies. The subject will also include international comparisons as relevant.

The subject will be taught by the Inspector-General of Taxation, Ali Noroozi.

Principal topics include:

• Tax administration under a self-assessment regime
• The FCT's general powers of administration
• The FCT's remedial powers
• The structure of the ATO, including the corporate governance regime and internal checks and balances
• The interaction of the FCT and the ATO with the tax profession and the role of the Tax Practitioners Board
• The ATO's interaction with taxpayers
• External scrutiny of the ATO by government and other agencies and authorities
• The ATO's role in tax policy advice and law design
• The ATO's interaction with other Australian government agencies
• The ATO's interaction with international agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

This core tax subject is designed to explore in detail the fundamental principles of income tax, fringe benefits tax and capital gains tax in relation to business and investment. It will provide the requisite skills and knowledge to identify and better deal with income tax problems that arise in practice and in other tax subjects. The lecturers are leading practitioners or academics with extensive experience in the field.

Principal topics include:

• The structure of the Australian income tax system
• The structure of the legislation, interaction mechanisms and derivation
• Multi-step transactions
• Deferred payments
• Expense characterisation and calculation of cost
• Valuation and conditions of employment
• Reimbursements and apportionment of deductions
• Capital gains tax: dissecting receipts and part disposals
• Deemed disposals
• Capital allowances and cost-base write-down
• Creation of liabilities
• Reimbursement and recovery of expenses.

This advanced corporate tax subject provides an in-depth analysis of the tax rules for Australia‘s largest public and private consolidated corporate groups, and the rules for use of losses by companies and corporate groups. It includes detailed discussion of the latest reforms in these highly technical areas of corporate tax practice, in light of tax policy applicable to companies and consolidated groups operating in Australia today. This subject is co-taught by experienced lecturers who combine academic and practitioner experience to deliver this advanced and commercially essential subject.

Principal topics include:

• The rules for membership and formation of a consolidated group in Part 3-90 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth)
• Operation of a consolidated group through normal trading operations, including the single entity rule, treatment of assets and liabilities, tax payment obligations, tax-sharing agreements and the company shareholder imputation system for consolidated groups
• Tax cost setting on joining and leaving of subsidiary members of a consolidated group, including group-to-group transactions
• Tax rules for multiple entry groups owned by foreign investors in Australia
• The interaction of consolidated group tax rules with other tax rules
• Tax rules for losses in companies and consolidated groups, including loss integrity rules, in Divisions 165 and 166 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth).

This core tax subject will examine Australia’s Goods and Services Tax (GST). The subject identifies the core legislative features in Australia’s GST contained in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999.

The subject includes:

• reference to the value-added tax systems in other jurisdictions such as the European Union, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Singapore; and
• analysis of rulings and cases that are relevant to the operation of, and compliance with, Australia’s GST in practice.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to the GST: the objectives of a tax on household consumption expenditure and the design features and legislative scheme of Australia’s GST
• GST’s ‘basic rules’ and the legislative building blocks contained in the GST law: the taxable person, consumption expenditure, tax value, registration, jurisdictional scope, supplies to and from offshore, exemptions, the destination principle (exports and imports) and input tax relief.
• A legislative overview of the Australian GST treatment of the “difficult to tax” issues: real property and financial services.

Not-for-Profits, the law and the state is a hot topic.  As the government retreats from the direct provision of social welfare and public goods, and as not-for-profits seek as never before to integrate commerce and advocacy with their traditional purposes, much attention is being focused on not-for-profit law.  These profound developments also suggest that not-for-profit law is becoming as important to contemporary societies as corporations law or administrative law.  In this subject, we will look in depth at the key elements of this critical body of law and on the relationship between the state and the not-for-profit sector.  We will reflect on important questions raised by not-for-profit law in its contemporary setting, questions relating to the definition of charity, the taxation of not-for-profits, and not-for-profit regulation.  We will adopt comparative, theoretical and practical perspectives in working through these questions.  The subject will be taught by two of Australia’s leading not-for-profit law experts.

• The legal definition of charity in Australia and other analogous jurisdictions
• The public benefit test and recent developments in the law of public benefit in Australia and abroad
• The extent to which not-for-profits can undertake for-profit activities and member benefit arrangements
• The treatment of religion in charity law
• The treatment of political advocacy in charity law
• The tax treatment of not-for-profits from a critical perspective
• Not-for-profits and discrimination on grounds like race, religion and sex
• A comparative examination of the regulation of the not-for-profit sector.

This subject examines both general and specific anti-avoidance provisions in Australia and in comparable jurisdictions. The subject will examine in detail the provisions of Part IVA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth), as well as its Goods and Services Tax (GST) equivalent, and consider the differences between permissible tax planning and impermissible tax avoidance.

Principal topics include:

• Concepts of tax avoidance
• General anti-avoidance provisions
• Specific anti-avoidance provisions
• Judicial responses to tax avoidance
• Obligations of taxpayers and advisers in relation to tax avoidance
• Tax avoidance and consolidation.

Today’s tax professional requires a combination of technical tax expertise and a deep understanding of the practical aspects of providing tax advice. This subject will be presented in a panel style and cover the latest developments in the essential practical skills required by employers in the tax profession.

The emphasis of this subject will be on equipping you with the practical aspects of dealing with the day to day issues you will encounter as a tax practitioner. You will learn how to draft clear, concise and effective advice and the importance of managing tax risk. The subject will also arm you with the skills required to draft ruling applications and objections and understand your legal obligations as a tax adviser.

The subject will be presented by leading silks, partners and tax practitioners. It presents a unique opportunity to benefit from their extensive experience.

Principal topics include:

• Negotiating with revenue authorities during audit, dispute and litigation
• Understanding the various forms of advice provided by the Australian Taxation Office
• The operation of legal professional privilege in the taxation environment
• The obligations of the tax advisor
• Taxpayer redress.

All countries face the challenge of ensuring their tax systems are able to support effective governments in the global era of increasingly mobile capital and labour, and to establish effective, fair, simple and sustainable tax systems for the future. Australia has undergone a number of major tax reform exercises over recent decades and there is an ongoing public debate in Australia, as in other countries, about how to keep the tax system relevant in a changing international economy.

This subject engages with the fundamental fiscal policy issues of today for all levels of government. It will analyse the major tax bases available for governments, the interactions of tax law with the transfer system, the challenge of environmentally sustainable taxes and issues of tax law design, complexity and administration for the future. The subject is taught by Paul Tilley, a former Australian Treasury official with a long history of tax reform in Australia.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to macroeconomics and fiscal policy
• Introduction to microeconomics and resource allocation policy
• Principles, objectives and main concepts in tax policy formulation
• The social, economic and historical – political contexts of tax policy formulation in Australia
• Major issues in tax reform in Australia, including in relation to fiscal policy and revenue adequacy, the major tax bases at each level of government, interactions within the tax-transfer system and issues of tax policy design cost, complexity and administration.

Small and medium business enterprises including high net worth families operating through groups of private companies, trusts and partnerships must deal with some of the most complex and challenging rules in the tax system, and face a high tax compliance and planning burden. This subject is aimed at tax professionals in general or those in specialist tax practice advising SMEs and high-wealth families. It equips participants with an advanced knowledge of tax rules and latest reforms for SMEs and high net worth families, integrating the technical law that participants learn in other subjects, including corporate tax, tax of trusts, capital gains tax and taxation of business and investment income. This subject involves consideration of complex and competing principles from numerous parts of the tax and other laws including indirect taxes, asset protection and estate and succession planning. It builds on the core content of other subjects, including Taxation of Business and Investment Income, Capital Gains Tax, Corporate Tax A, Taxation of Trusts and State Taxes. As a result, this subject may be best studied towards the end of your tax course.

This advanced subject is co-taught by leading practitioners with many years of experience advising the Australian SME and high net wealth families sector. They deliver an advanced, commercially essential subject through application of the tax law to topical case studies.

Principal topics include:

• Income tax and capital gains tax rules applicable to trusts, private companies and partnerships, when establishing a new business or making investments, its operation and ultimate sale, winding up or business succession
• Tax issues for private companies and shareholders, including Div 7A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth)
• Tax issues relating to remuneration by and financing of SMEs
• Tax concessions for SMEs, in particular the capital gains tax small business concessions
• Trust streaming, trust loss and capital distribution rules affecting SMEs
• Tax integrity and anti-avoidance rules for SMEs, including trust anti-avoidance rules
• Tax planning for SME structuring, asset protection and estate and business succession, incorporating key state and federal tax, asset protection and estate issues
• Asset protection and some estate and succession planning for SME entities, their owners and high wealth families.

This core tax subject will examine in depth the Australian income tax rules applicable to trusts, including significant new and ongoing reforms and policy developments. It will apply these rules to the range of applications of trusts, including private trusts such as unit trusts, family discretionary trusts, public managed investment funds, real estate investment trusts, nominee trusts, and stapled structures used by large businesses.

Principal topics include:

• Definition and types of trust at law and for tax purposes and framework of trust tax rules
• Trust distributions, beneficiaries and trustees, present entitlement, net income and flow-through of tax attributes, such as franking credits and capital gains
• Trust losses
• Anti-avoidance and integrity rules
• Capital gains tax for trusts, including formation, distributions, termination, unit trusts and deceased estates
• Managed investment and real estate unit trusts, public trading trusts, and stapled and other trust structures
• Trust tax reform and new developments.

Globalisation is driving corporate tax systems closer together and often into conflict. For many tax practitioners, it is now not enough to know their own corporate tax system—they must grapple with and question the operation of other corporate tax systems. This subject seeks to develop an ability to understand and analyse any corporate tax system and assess its impact on corporate decision-making. With a dedicated textbook (written by the presenter), this subject compares a number of influential and archetypal corporate tax systems (both common law and civil law) and assesses their behaviour in the context of practical problems. For tax professionals, this subject develops an ability to ask direct and informed questions about a foreign corporate tax system and discuss that system at a high level with foreign tax professionals.

This subject will compare and analyse income tax law in selected countries (Australia, Germany, the US and the UK) and consider how these laws interface with corporate law. Other jurisdictions may also be covered briefly during the course and students are permitted to cover other countries in their research paper.

Principal topics include:

• Identification of entities (including hybrids) subject to corporation tax
• Corporate groups and service companies
• Debt versus equity and dividend relief
• Cross-border corporate income and dividends
• Gains/losses on the disposal of shares, takeovers and trading in loss companies
• Corporate formation, share buy-backs and liquidation
• Bonus issues, convertible notes, mergers and demergers.

This subject will provide a detailed comparative analysis of the principal topics in international taxation. The core principles of international income tax will be examined, with the different approaches taken by nations (developed, emerging, and developing countries) outlined and critiqued. The compatibility of international tax systems in dealing with international transactions will be examined, and key areas of mismatch and overlap identified. The ongoing reform of international tax rules under the O.E.C.D. Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project will be considered. This subject will equip students to analyse international tax issues using a comparative approach and to acquire a deep understanding of the underlying structural, institutional, and policy influences that have shaped international income tax systems. This knowledge is directly applicable to analysing international tax problems in any particular country.

Principal topics include:

• Jurisdiction to tax (residence and source)
• Taxation of foreign income of residents, including elimination of double taxation
• Deductibility of expenses to earn dividends from foreign corporations
• Controlled foreign company rules
• Taxation of non-residents
• Thin capitalisation rules
• Tax treaties
• BEPS issues.

In today’s global, digital era, international tax is vitally important, and the environment is changing rapidly. Tax issues on diverse topics of cross-border work, consumption, deals and investments are important for taxpayers ranging from individuals to multinational corporations. Governments are increasingly cooperating on tax collection and enforcement, but spill overs from unilateral tax changes of some countries may dramatically affect other countries. Meanwhile, tax competition continues. Tax havens are being brought into the global net and anti-abuse rules are strengthened, yet low tax jurisdictions remain significant for international tax policy. This subject is led by international tax experts and brings academia, government and the profession together to explore the latest trends in international tax and implications for Australia and the world.

The subject will address the latest developments in tax practice and theory on a range of topics such as:

• International tax principles: are residence and source still relevant?
• OECD-G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting measures
• Anti-abuse rules in a global digital era
• Multilateral and bilateral cooperation: Is multilateralism the way of the future and how important are bilateral tax treaties?
• Transnational tax administration and taxpayer rights
• Processes and players in international tax reform
• Future design of international tax rules for corporate, individual and consumption taxes in a global digital context.

This core international tax subject is of central importance given Australia’s ever-growing role in the global economy. This subject covers the fundamental international income tax rules that apply where income or capital gains are derived in circumstances that have a connection with Australia. It considers Australia’s tax jurisdiction of residence and source, and relief from double taxation under domestic law and tax treaties. It also examines measures to prevent tax avoidance, such as controlled foreign company measures and transfer pricing.

This subject is designed to explore in detail the fundamental principles of Australia’s international taxation regime. The subject will examine both the issues of tax design and policy, and the relevant provisions in the legislation, cases and rulings.

Principal topics include:

• Principles of international taxation
• Rules for determining residence and source
• Domestic rules for the taxation of residents’ foreign income (foreign income tax offsets, accruals taxation of foreign income and exemption of foreign income)
• Domestic rules for the taxation of non-residents’ Australian source income (business income, interest, dividends and royalties)
• Introduction to tax treaties
• Introduction to thin capitalisation rules.

Globally, countries have negotiated more than 3,000 bilateral tax treaties and the number of treaties continues to grow. Tax Treaties provides an in-depth examination of international tax treaties, regarding both inbound and outbound investment. This subject uses the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Model Treaty and Commentary and examines important tax treaties of Australia and its major trading partners.

Associate Professor Michael Kobetsky has advised the United Nations (UN) and country governments on these issues. This lively, engaging and relevant subject equips students to deal with the most topical and advanced issues of international tax in the application and interpretation of tax treaties, including the meaning of permanent establishment and taxation of business profits, residence and source, the treatment of investment income, exchange of information and avoidance of double taxation.

Principal topics include:

• The role of tax treaties in preventing double taxation and tax avoidance
• Interpretation of tax treaties
• Relationship between tax treaties and domestic law
• Impact of tax treaties on investing in Australia
• Impact of tax treaties on investing overseas
• Entities and tax treaties
• The mutual agreement procedure
• Tax treaties and tax avoidance.

International transfer pricing is the price charged for the cross-border transfer of assets or services between associated enterprises in a multinational enterprise group. Transfer pricing is consistently identified in international surveys of multinational enterprises as the most important tax issue they face. Multinational enterprises have to deal with demands from the various jurisdictions in which they operate as national tax agencies implement measures to protect their revenue from cross-border trade between associated entities.

This subject studies the Australian transfer pricing rules and their application. The Australian transfer pricing rules are based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Transfer Pricing Guidelines. This subject is designed for tax advisers, in-house tax managers and government officials, as well as those practising in transfer pricing. A background in transfer pricing is not required.

Principal topics include:

• OECD guidelines on transfer pricing
• Australia’s tax legislation and tax rulings on transfer pricing
• Australia’s tax treaties and transfer pricing
• Case law
• Transfer pricing methodologies—selection and application for the following transactions in respect of tangible goods, intangible assets, services and financial transactions
• Transfer pricing documentation requirements
• Performing a comparable search (benchmarking)
• Completing the transfer pricing section of the tax return
• Risk reviews and audit approach.