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.

We have previously reminded employers that when negotiating an enterprise bargaining agreement the correct procedure must be followed or the Fair Work Commission (FWC) will reject the proposed agreement (see previous article here). If rejected, the bargaining process must begin again, wasting employers valuable time and resources.

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.

As indicated in our article yesterday, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has handed down its long-awaited decision on penalty rates applying on weekends, public holidays and late nights.

Retail and hospitality employers are awaiting the Fair Work Commission’s decision on penalty rates.

With the new super laws due to commence on 1 July 2017, now is the time to consider whether your SMSF trust deed or pension document needs to be updated.

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.

Under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act), securities and charges under other legislation and registers were migrated onto the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR). Many migrated securities were not registered in accordance with the Act’s registration requirements.

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 set out in our update “Small Business Offered Long Awaited Protection from Unfair Contract Terms”, unfair contract term provisions under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) have been extended to not only protect consumers from unfair terms, but also parties to a small business contract.

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. 

Some welcome amendments have recently been made to the laws regulating enduring powers of attorney. They improve the operation of enduring powers of attorney.

The Turnbull Government has introduced a Bill to facilitate the use of crowd-sourced equity funding by Australian small businesses and start-ups.

In a world where the internet and technology have progressed to a place where a relationship can be started with a simple ‘swipe’, ‘like’ or ‘snap’ on social media, it doesn’t seem too hard to believe that a relationship can breakdown over a ‘screenshot’ or ‘instant message’. 

Harwood Andrews has acted for the City of Greater Geelong in a successful prosecution of the owners of ‘the Ritz’ - a prominent heritage listed building located on Bellerine Street, Geelong.

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.

A small construction company has been ordered to pay penalties totalling $20,000 as a result of it sending text messages to workers, unlawfully stating they must be union members before commencing work on a construction site.