Tax Talks

May was one of the biggest months for tax in recent memory. In Episode 2 of Tax Talks, hosts Andrew Henshaw and Rajan Verrma are joined by Anthony Tripolino from Tripolino Accountants to unpack the Federal Budget and the significant tax measures that have sparked widespread discussion across the profession. The episode explores the proposed capital gains tax reforms, changes to negative gearing, the proposed 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts, family trust distribution tax issues, and the practical implications these measures may have for accountants, business owners and investors. The discussion also covers several recent tax cases, including decisions involving Division 7A, family trust elections, section 99B foreign trust distributions, trust deductions and burden of proof issues. For accountants, tax practitioners and advisers wanting to stay across the latest developments, this episode provides a practical discussion of the issues currently shaping Australia's tax landscape.

In this first episode of Tax Talks, Rajan Verma and Andrew Henshaw review the key Australian tax developments from April 2026. They discuss possible changes to the 50% CGT discount, proposed amendments to foreign resident CGT rules, the new $1,000 work-related deduction, and recent cases across FBT, property development, home office deductions and Division 7A. The episode also covers ATO guidance on property development arrangements and Part IVA, deceased estate main residence extensions, and upcoming issues including the Federal Budget, Bendel and the Uber payroll tax appeal. Designed for accountants, tax agents, tax practitioners and other professionals, this episode provides a technical and practical summary of April's key tax updates.

Tax Talks enters a new phase. In this pilot episode, the new hosts are joined by Tax Talks creator Heide Robson to introduce the direction of the podcast and what listeners can expect going forward. The focus remains clear: delivering practical, technically sound tax insights for accountants, advisers and business owners operating in an increasingly complex environment.

Here are eight useful lessons about family law property settlements. Mortgages, loan agreements and trusts might protect you less than you think.

When your clients separate from their partners, you are usually involved in some shape or form. Your divorcing clients will probably ask you to provide financial statements, copies of tax returns and copies of the relevant ITA and ICA accounts in the ATO portal. And ask you a ton of questions, especially about their position in the family law property settlements.

So this is our last episode about the Bendel Case and Subdiv EA.

In this episode, let’s walk through seven questions with Andrew Henshaw of Velocity Legal about Subdiv EA and beyond.

In 'The Bendel Case Part 2' - not the most creative title we ever came up with - we will drill deeper into what The Bendel Case means for you.

The Bendel Case shapes up to be the ATO’s Waterloo – a crushing defeat to the position the ATO took in TR 2010/3.

Item 17 makes it very easy for legislators to quickly add new rules to the Professional Code for Tax Agents through a Ministerial Determination.

In this episode, Andrew Henshaw will walk you through the changes to the TASA 2009 and discuss the new Dob-In Rules for tax agents with you.

There are many PSI examples in PCG 2024/D2, but all are pretty black and white.

The four PSB tests no longer protect PSI from the PSI rules. Instead, PCG 2024/D2 drags Part IVA back onto the stage.

When you look at family trusts, everything rotates around the Test Individual. They are the stick in the sand.

When you work with private clients the question of a Family Trust Election almost always comes up. But you need to be careful. A family trust election can be dangerous and cost you a lot of tax, ie. Family Trust Distribution Tax. Unlike normal income tax, the amendment periods don’t apply to Family Trust Distribution Tax, so the ATO can still hit your client decades later with FTDT. Hence, it is really important to get Family Trust Elections right.

This is part 2 of our talk about NDIS registration with Astrid Rivalland and Helen Young of LegalVision in Sydney. Please listen first to part 1 in episode 427.

Your NDIS registration can indirectly influence your GST exemption.  Hence, this episode about the ins and outs of NDIS registrations.

In this final episode of our three-part mini-series about charities, we discuss Charitable Sub-Fund Arrangements with Darren Fittler of Gilbert + Tobin in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

PAF v PuAF - what is the difference between the two?

As accountants, we work with individuals, companies, trusts partnerships and any combination of those. That is what we are familiar with.  But if a client came to you to set up a charity, would you know how to structure this? 

Identity verification of clients is strongly recommended by the TPB, but not yet mandatory.

Employee Share Option Plans - or ESOPs - give you an option to receive a share. That option might vest in the future, or it might not. Hence, taxation occurs only at the vesting point. Or in other words: The taxation point is at the point of vesting.

Employee Share Plans (ESP) give you shares without any strings attached. They are taxed upfront.

PSI in TR 2022/3 - steps 7 to 9 is about the employees test, business premises test as well as ATO PSI Determinations and of course the special agent rules.

PSI in TR 2022/3 - Steps 5 and 6: Nine steps to work out the taxation of PSI - here we cover the 80% hurdle and the unrelated clients test.

When you try to work out a PSI issue, it can get a bit confusing. So, it helps to put all this into a proper process.

Jamie Johns grew his firm to an annual turnover of $5m heading towards $10m. As a mentor at Wize Mentoring he has a unique view into what helps us grow.

How AI boosts your SMSF processing - the challenge is to know what your software is capable of.

In this episode, let’s speak with Rachel Harris about what StriveX does to really woo their staff and really look after them and how that contributed to their amazing growth.

How social media helped StriveX to grow and how they manage to get so many referrals.

StriveX grew from 50k to 1m in 3.5 years - here is how they did it.

In this episode, you will hear from James Carey of Prime Partners in Sydney how they built their app stack.

So far you could assume a 2-year amendment period for most SMEs. Not anymore. Here is what the update of Regulations 2015 change for you.

In this episode, we ask Bradley Murphy and Darren Catherall of Murphy Tax in Sydney six questions about foreign trusts and companies.

When we talk about trust distributions, we always mention the possible assessment of the trustee. Especially when a trust distribution goes wrong, But what does that actually look like?

s99B Carve-outs are your way out. They protect you from s99B ITAA 1936.

s99B ITAA 1936 is about foreign trusts paying accumulated income to Australian resident beneficiaries. Take away one of these elements, and you don't have a s99B issue.

From 2009 until October 2023, a UPE to a company was always a Div 7A issue. Not anymore. As Andrew Henshaw of Velocity Legal in Melbourne will tell you.

Hubspot for accountants - does that really work? Can Hubspot give us what we as accountants and tax agents need to run our practice?

In this episode we will talk with Nathan Reiche of Content Chemistry about CRMs for Accountants.

Div 6E income is relevant when your trust income includes capital gains and/or franked distributions. Then Div 6E will avoid double taxation.

The 1884 Upton v Brown court case is of great importance in taxation. It involved Upton and Brown, beneficiaries of a discretionary trust, where one had income rights and the other controlled the trust's capital.

There are many s100A pain points - let's cover five in this update.

Let's go to the very start and look at trust income. Because we need to understand trust income before we can talk about trust losses.

The theory around foreign trusts is confusing. So in this episode let's use a New Zealand trust as a foreign trust example.

Foreign trusts are not an issue per se. Nor are resident trusts. It really depends. But if you do have a foreign trust, watch out for s99B ITAA 1936. That is a really dangerous one.

An asset protection trust (aka equity split) does not give you 100% protection but it helps. Each layer you use increases your protection from creditors.

Asset protection layers can get pierced through. None is watertight. But the more layers you have, the more protected you are.

Asset protection silos are to ringfence the assets of one business from the creditors of another.

Here are five transfer pricing examples that cover common transfer pricing issues.