Geelong law firm Harwood Andrews celebrated its 175th birthday in October 2017, making it nine years older than the state of Victoria, and 17 years older than the Geelong Football Club. And, like the famed Cats, Harwood Andrews can lay claim to being significantly woven into Geelong’s social fabric, in fact even more so than the club that formed at the Victoria Hotel in 1859.                  

In the case of MSAUS v FC of T the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) recently held that Division 135 of the A New Tax System  \Goods and Services Tax Act (GST Act) did not apply to impose an increasing adjustment (an amount of GST on an otherwise GST-free transaction) to the sale of leased residential apartments.

The 2017 The Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards were held on Friday, September 1st at the Star in Sydney. Harwood Andrews was again announced as the winner of the best Regional/Suburban Law firm of the Year for 2017.

On Saturday August 19, Harwood Andrews together with Deakin University ran a Hackathon, focusing on digital disruption in the legal industry and changing the customer experience in the digital era.

The demands of playing professional sport, particularly in the AFL, have never been higher. The rigours athletes put their body through on the field are compounded with the intense scrutiny they receive off it from media and fans alike.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has handed down two decisions which will have implications for employers from 1 July 2017: the annual wage review which determines minimum award rates and the transitional arrangements to roll out changes to penalty rates.

The 2017 Australasian Law Awards were held in Sydney last night and the winners have been announced with Harwood Andrews taking out the award for State/Regional Law Firm of the Year for 2017.

The Victorian Government has announced further changes to stamp duty in Victoria under the 2017-2018 State Budget. 

As previously reported here, the Government introduced a Bill into Parliament to increase the aggregated turnover threshold for small business entities seeking to access small business tax concessions to less than $10 million and to reduce the corporate tax rate for small business entities to 27.5% from the 2016/17 income years.

In RGGW and Commissioner of Taxation [2017] AATA 238, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) held that tax losses were not available to a corporate partner in a property development partnership due to poor evidence to support its claim for losses.

The High Court of Australia has recently allowed an appeal against a decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal and found that the Commissioner of State Revenue (Commissioner) was not under a duty to issue amended assessments and refund an excess amount of land tax that was erroneously been paid by a taxpayer.

Subject to the passing of enabling legislation the Victorian Government has announced the following changes to stamp duty and land tax:

Harwood Andrews has announced changes to the operations and management of the organisation. Driven by the desire of the Principals to increase their active engagement in the direction of the firm, the new structure will comprise of a Chief Executive Officer, a Board consisting of all shareholders, an Executive Chair of the Board, and shareholders with key responsibilities for firm functions.

Any sports club, large or small, faces the prospect of a troublesome member, or members, threatening the reputation and standing of the club in the community, or interfering with other members’ quite enjoyment.

Monday afternoon’s (AEST) Super Bowl LI has already been described as the “greatest of all time” by many experts, with the New England Patriots pulling off an extraordinary come from behind performance to defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-28.

The Full Federal Court of Australia denied the application of the CGT small business 50% active asset reduction on the basis that an unusual activity carried on by an associated entity to the taxpayer contributed to the aggregated annual turnover of the taxpayer and associated entity to be more than $2,000,000.

As set out in our previous article, the deadline for ensuring non-commercial related party limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) loans are rectified to reflect commercial terms is 31 January 2017. This date is fast approaching and SMSF trustees must take immediate action to ensure compliance with the ATO’s guidelines set out in PCG 2016/5. 

As has become tradition, particularly in the United States, sports leagues and clubs have been busy unveiling their 2016 Christmas Day uniforms ahead of the festive season. 

Whilst the A-League, NBL and WNBL are in the early stages of their new seasons, the AFL and NRL have wound down for the next 5 months. This means that the players, who have slogged away during the winter months in the chase for a premiership, are enjoying holidays and resting their bodies before the commencement of another arduous pre-season.

Harwood Andrews was a gold sponsor of this year’s Mellow in the Yellow fundraising event held on 8 October 2016. One of our senior associates, Euphemie Barr, was on the event committee and helped coordinate various aspects of the event.