Talking tax: professional privilege, trusts and ATO collaboration

You have probably heard about our exciting couple of days at the National Tax Conference in Melbourne last week. High profile presenters and tax experts generated quite a bit of dynamic debate and discussion!

Highlights from the two days included:

• A speech by Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten, where he announced that the federal government is to release a discussion paper on professional privilege for accountants. This is an issue that we at the Institute have been advocating for some time, and it was great to see Minister Shorten acknowledging the role that professional accountants play in the community
• Shadow Treasuer Joe Hockey’s lunchtime address, where he generated a lot of controversy amongst delegates and in the media by bringing up the  taxation of trusts.  He also discussed how he would simplify the tax system
• Commissioner of Taxation Michael D’Ascenzo’s presentation, where he launched the ATO publication, Good Governance and Promoter Penalty Laws Guide, co-developed and designed with the ATO’s peak consultation forum, the National Tax Liaison Group, of which the Institute is an active member. The Commissioner talked about the importance of collaboration and how much he appreciated the Institute’s role in working with the ATO.

It was a great forum to hear from influential speakers about the big issues in the tax world, particularly in the lead-up to the federal government’s tax forum. More information about the sessions, including video recordings, will be available on the Institute website.

I’d love to hear your feedback or thoughts on some of the issues that came up!

Another big week lies ahead in the tax world

Tax reform has been a big issue on the public agenda over the last month, following government announcements on the carbon tax, mining tax, national tax forum and the review of GST funding.

With that in mind, the Institute's inaugural annual tax conference, appropriately titled, ‘the Big 1’, couldn’t have come at a better time. It starts this coming Wednesday, 6 April in Melbourne.

The conference runs for two days and features speakers ranging from Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey, through to Tax Commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo and former High Court judge Michael Kirby.

With so many different initiatives underway right now in the tax arena, the conference presents a unique opportunity to debate and discover the tax reform priorities of conference speakers and delegates. Some of the areas that will be discussed include:

• The development of a tax reform blueprint for Australia, which is back on the agenda following the recent announcement by the Federal Treasurer of details on the national tax forum to be held in early October this year
• The next steps in the introduction of the proposed new resource tax arrangements. The formation of a new Implementation Group (which I am fortunate to be a part of), and the commitment by the government to adopt all 94 recommendations from the Policy Transition Group, means the momentum is certainly about to gather pace again in this area.

These recent developments, as well as a raft of others, will be comprehensively debated at the tax conference by a wide cross section of experts. It's going to be fantastic to watch and participate in.

If you haven't registered to attend the National Tax Conference yet, visit www.charteredaccountants.com.au/NTC to find out more. In the meantime, you can follow the latest updates at twitter.com/Chartered_Accts by referencing #taxconf.