Recent News
The role of the Jury in our Court
The High Court in the recent Gerard Baden-Clay decision restoring the verdict of murder reminds us of the fundamental function of the jury to determine the issues of fact. Given the role of the jury trial in our criminal justice system and as representatives of the...
Deceased Estates Tax
When a person dies their tax obligations do not die with them. It is usually necessary to lodge a tax return for the financial year in which they died. However, if the deceased was not required to lodge a tax return before their death there may be no need to lodge a...
Changes to the 2016 return you should be aware of.
Tax time is now in full swing with many of you visiting your accounting offices in hope of a decent bonus from a tax return, but there have been many changes in what we can claim and also how. E-Tax is now dead. Long live E-Tax. Its predecessor, MyGov, has now...
Dealing with Div 7A
Division 7A is a part of the tax law that is designed to discourage shareholders accessing money from their private companies, other than by way of those private companies paying them dividends. Division 7A does this by treating certain payments and loans made by the...
Concerns with Capacity? It may not be too late to make a Will
Often, we talk about assessing client’s capacity and it is widely known that a person must have “capacity” to make or change their Wills. Some people, either because of conditions such as dementia or intellectual disabilities or even illness, do not have capacity to...
Small Business – Time to consider your structure…
In March 2016, the Tax Laws Amendment (Small Business Restructure Roll-over) Act 2016 received royal assent. So, what does this mean? If you are a small business, that is, your turnover is less than two million dollars ($2,000,000.00) annually you may meet the...
Family Estrangement and your Will
For some, it is difficult to understand why an adult of full capacity cannot choose to whom they leave their Estate. We hear often of stories of family disharmony, where there has been a falling out in the family and the relationship is estranged. However, having a...
Supervision of Children and the Law
In 2015 Australia has seen a 30 per cent increase in drowning deaths of children under the age of five according to the Royal Life Saving Society’s annual drowning report. Of the 271 deaths due to drowning 26 were of preschool age. Most of these young children drown...
2016 Small business income tax offset
As we all know that the government has introduced new rules to benefit small businesses, such as the $20,000 instant write off for a business asset. In the 2015-16 financial year, another benefit for certain small businesses has been introduced, which is called ‘small...
Be prepared if going it alone
GOING to court without legal representation is daunting for anyone who is not familiar with the law or the court processes. There are many reasons you may find yourself before a court including disputes over debts, with a neighbour, family law matter, a contested will...
Planning to catch that End of Financial Year bargain?
How many of us see these fantastic flashing advertisements on the television, pushing products to be brought before the end of the financial year in order to receive a “Tax Bonus” or “Tax Saving”? Products from health insurance to motor vehicles are aggressively...
Medicinal Cannabis and the Courts
In Queensland cannabis possession, trafficking, supply and production are criminal offences with maximum penalties ranging between 15 and 25 years imprisonment. Cannabis use in Queensland remains higher than the average of other Australian states and is the largest...
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