DBA Lawyers is pleased to announce the promotion of William Fettes and Shaun Backhaus as new directors of the firm. This promotion recognises their ongoing commitment to outstanding client service, improving their technical and legal expertise and their ongoing valuable contribution to clients and the firm. William and Shaun’s appointment as directors adds to DBA [read more]
The Victorian Government announced changes to the congestion levy as part of its 2024/25 Budget Update on 13 December 2024. This levy affects off-street car parking spaces in Melbourne’s central business district (CBD) and surrounding inner suburbs. This article follows on from the recent DBA article Congestion levy on parking spaces (Melbourne) and discusses some [read more]
Owners and operators of off-street car parking spaces located in the Melbourne CBD and surrounding suburbs are liable to pay an annual congestion levy unless an exemption or concession applies. This article provides an overview on the levy under the Congestion Levy Act 2005 (Vic) (CLA). What is a leviable parking space? Broadly, the levy applies [read more]
A 7.5% levy on the total booking fees will apply for short stay rentals from 1 January 2025. The total booking fee is the sum of all fees and charges related to the booking, eg, cleaning fees, GST etc. However, the total booking fee does not include credit card fees/surcharges. The short stay levy (Levy) [read more]
If residential land in Victoria has been or will be vacant for more than 6 months in a calendar year, the property owner is required to notify the State Revenue Office (SRO). Property owners have until the 15 January to notify the SRO for the prior calendar years’ use and occupation (U+O) of the property. [read more]
The non-arm’s length income (NALI) provisions contained in s 295-550 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) continue to be a divisive topic, with recent non-arm’s length expense (NALE) changes providing some welcome relief while also highlighting the urgent need for further legislative change for specific NALI and the capital gains tax (CGT) [read more]
The ATO is a large bureaucracy and produces a lot of guidance material. Thus it is important that advisers and taxpayers understand the range of material (or products) published by the ATO and the level of protection that each provides. Generally, the ATO feels bound by its published material from an administrative viewpoint. However, only [read more]
In light of recent changes to the professional and ethical obligations on tax practitioners, it is important for clients and advisers to consider who to seek guidance from. This article discusses certain advantages of engaging a lawyer for advice or assistance. Background The Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Cth) (TASA) has recently been amended to [read more]
As a lawyer, I do a lot of work advising and representing approved SMSF auditors who are being audited/reviewed by the ATO and/or who have been referred to ASIC. In September, I will present on this topic at the SMSF Association’s ‘SMSF Audit Day’. More specifically, I will present a topic titled ‘Facing the Regulators: [read more]
The Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (CA) contains a number of important requirements in relation to registering new companies with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). These requirements mandate, among other things, that certain written consents and agreements must be in place for all proposed directors, secretaries and shareholders of a new company prior to [read more]
