hi Cliff
There is no such thing as 100% certainty with anything when it comes to tax.....even the tax office have turned face and argued against their own public rulings in the past!!
However, to put this issue to bed, I have spoken to Chris Batten this morning and offered to personally seek a declaratory order from the courts (similar to a PBR) and in doing so....put my money where my mouth is.
It seems that nothing else will be good enough for some people......
I believe that this takes a little time and I am happy to share the results when I get them. I am now just waiting on Chris to come back to me with how we go about this.
Dale
There is no such thing as 100% certainty with anything when it comes to tax.....even the tax office have turned face and argued against their own public rulings in the past!!
However, to put this issue to bed, I have spoken to Chris Batten this morning and offered to personally seek a declaratory order from the courts (similar to a PBR) and in doing so....put my money where my mouth is.
It seems that nothing else will be good enough for some people......
I believe that this takes a little time and I am happy to share the results when I get them. I am now just waiting on Chris to come back to me with how we go about this.
Dale
Yes
Dale I think your last post really doesn't adress the reality of how the legal system works in Australia.
there have been situations in the past where large groups of people have participated in what many considered to be acceptable schemes only to get a nasty fright and a painfull bill.
There are many shades of grey between black and white.
Maybe Chris Battern is in a situation where he can define what the Tax Department will do , but if as you say , he knows more than them , maybe the ATO will make the incorrect decision if they don't " know enough " .
Maybe the Judges who would have to adjudicate in the decision between whether Chris or the ATO know more ( if it ever came to that ) also don't know as much.
How many times have we seen land mark legal decisions decided by split decisions amongst the leading legal minds in the country.
Can you 100% guarantee HDT's will hold up ? Maybe on the balance of probablities they will but what degree of certainty can be offered at the moment.
Cliff