Australian Law/Tax avoidance

Completion status: Deliberately incomplete for educational purposes.

TODO: Flesh out skeleton

History of tax avoidance

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See the book Boucher, 'Blatant, artificial and contrived: Tax schemes of the 70s and 80s' (2010) [1].

Anti-avoidance laws

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Section 260 (1915-1981)

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Part IVA (1981-)

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Counterparts to Part IVA with similar, but not identical, provisions exist in relation to taxes other than income tax, e.g.:

  • A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth), Div 165
  • Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 (Cth), s 67

Major tax avoidance cases

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This section describes (or links to descriptions of) court cases where anti-avoidance provisions were argued, discussing them in terms of what flaws or issues in the substantive tax legislation were being exploited.

(TODO)

  • DFCT v Purcell (1921) 29 CLR 464
  • Davis v FCT 89 ATC 4377
  • FCT v Westraders (1980) 144 CLR 55
  • Investment & Merchant Finance Corp Ltd v FCT (1971) 125 CLR 249
  • Slutzkin v FCT (1977) 140 CLR 314
  • Brambles Holdings v FCT (1977) 138 CLR 467
  • WP Keighery Pty Ltd v FCT (1957) 100 CLR 66
  • Mullens (1976) 135 CLR 290
  • Cridland (1977) 140 CLR 330
  • FCT v Gulland (1985) 160 CLR 55
  • FCT v Kareena Hospital Pty Ltd (1979) 10 ATR 525
  • Bayly v FCT (1977) 7 ATR 215
  • Jones v FCT (1977) 7 ATR 229
  • Curran v FCT (____) 131 CLR 409
  • John v FCT (1989) 20 ATR 1
  • IRC v Duke of Westminster - not an Australian case, but often cited in discussions of tax avoidance in Australia, so useful to analyse by the same methods as the Australian cases
  • Richard Walter v FCT (1995) 31 ATR 95
  • Newton v FCT (1958) 98 CLR 1
  • Case W58 (1989) 89 ATC 538
  • Howland-Rose v FCT [2002] FCA 246 (the 'Budplan' case)
  • FCT v Peabody
  • FCT v Spotless Services Ltd
  • Eastern Nitrogen v FCT
  • FCT v Hart
  • FCT v Consolidated Press