Category Archives: Tax

PwC tax scandal: staff stood down over concerns problem ‘significantly broader’ than one partner

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Former NSW police commissioner and now PwC partner Mick Fuller contacted his friend the AFP commissioner after scandal broke, Senate estimates told

PwC has agreed to a federal government order to stand down all employees involved in the alleged misuse of confidential information from government work, responding to concern the problem is “significantly broader” than one partner at the firm.

The public service has stepped up its response to PwC for sharing confidential tax policy information to drum up business, with the head of Treasury referring the matter to police and finance ordering staff “directly involved in, or who had knowledge of, the significant breach” to be stood down.

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Richard Boyle claims judge wrong to deny him whistleblower protections

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Former ATO worker lodges appeal against a South Australian district court decision not to grant him protection

Richard Boyle claims a judge was wrong to deny him whistleblower protections, and says Australia’s laws should have shielded him from alleged acts done in preparation to expose the conduct of the Australian Taxation Office, court documents show.

Boyle has lodged an appeal against a key decision in the South Australian district court, denying him the protections of the nation’s Public Interest Disclosure Act, which left him facing criminal trial on 24 charges – including the alleged use of his mobile phone to take photographs of taxpayer information and covertly record conversations with colleagues.

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One in five workers will be higher-rate taxpayers by 2027 – IFS

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Jeremy Hunt’s freeze on allowances and thresholds will put a quarter of teachers and one-eighth of nurses in 40% income tax bracket

One in four teachers and one in eight nurses will be higher-rate taxpayers by 2027 as a result of the government’s record freeze on income tax allowances and thresholds, according to a leading thinktank.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said better-paid public sector workers will be among the almost 8 million people – one in five of all taxpayers – who will pay income tax at 40% or above as result of the Treasury’s attempt to reduce the UK’s budget deficit.

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Federal budget: Labor to collect billions more in petroleum resource rent tax

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers and finance minister Katy Gallagher announce changes ahead of budget tipped to be at or near surplus

Labor will cap deductions to collect $2.4bn more in petroleum resource rent tax over four years and boost community services by $4bn through fairer indexation of wage costs.

The two major measures were announced by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and finance minister, Katy Gallagher, ahead of Tuesday’s budget, which is expected to be at or near surplus.

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Labor announces payday super to crack down on billions in unpaid funds each year

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The measure will deliver a ‘more dignified retirement to more Australian workers’, treasurer Jim Chalmers says

Employers will be required to pay superannuation on payday, rather than quarterly, under reforms aimed at cracking down on the scourge of more than $3bn of super that goes unpaid each year.

The measure, announced by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and financial services minister, Stephen Jones, will take effect in July 2026, giving businesses three years to prepare.

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Small businesses offered tax breaks for going green in federal budget – as it happened

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Marles on Australians caught in Sudan conflict

Asked about Australians caught in Sudan and the conflict there, Richard Marles says “there are still options out of Port Sudan which is on the Red Sea, which is, I think it’s about 800km out of Khartoum” to leave “what is obviously a deteriorating situation”:

There are ferries there and there may be other options coming out of that. I mean, the important thing is this – Australians in Sudan, and there do remain a number of Australians in Sudan, really need to make sure that they register.

We will continue to work with friends and allies and do everything that we can within our power to provide options for Australians who want to leave. Because we understand how difficult this situation is now.

Ultimately, our ambition is to establish a production line with companies in this country which would provide for the manufacture of those long-range strike missiles and doing as much of that as possible in the next couple of years. We hope that we can begin with the assembly of the strike missiles that go in the Himars system. But we want to build on that so that we’re actually manufacturing the full suite of these weapons in Australia.

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Australia news live: defence strategic review ‘a cannibalisation of army mobility’, Hastie says; Victorian jockey dies after race fall

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Review calls for ADF to develop ability to precisely strike targets at longer range and to develop stronger network. Follow the day’s news live

Plibersek v Joyce on Newspoll

In their regular spot on Sunrise, environment minister Tanya Plibersek and Coalition frontbencher Barnaby Joyce weighed in on those Newspoll results.

They’re very strong support numbers, and I tell you the reason is not based on polling but what people tell me when I’m out around the country.

People tell me that they’re pleased to see a government that is just getting on with the job, doing what we promised and they’re impressed that the prime minister is just sticking with what he said he’d do.

We don’t have an election tomorrow and that’s a good thing.

A lot of people are starting to focus now on issues such as the voice and saying, “I don’t feel comfortable with this.”

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‘It’s obscene’: ATO still chasing $2bn in student debt from controversial 1990s loan scheme

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More than 140,000 people who traded welfare payments for loans are still repaying them decades later

The Australian government is still chasing $2bn of debt from more than 140,000 former low-income students who traded away their right to welfare under a loan scheme two decades ago for its unfairness.

The student financial supplement scheme (SFSS), which operated for a decade from 1993, enticed tertiary students to take out “low-cost” loans by giving up benefits including youth allowance, Austudy or the pensioner education supplement.

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Katy Gallagher ‘unchanged’ on stage-three tax cuts, won’t commit to raising jobseeker

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Leaving welfare payments at current rate ‘unconscionable and grossly irresponsible’, says anti-poverty body

The Albanese government remains committed to the $250bn stage-three tax cuts but cannot say whether it will lift the rate of the unemployment payment, despite its own expert committee finding it was now “a barrier to paid work”.

Speaking to ABC’s Insiders on Sunday the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, said the government was reviewing the findings of the economic inclusion committee and the women’s economic equality taskforce, but could not commit to accepting any of the recommendations.

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Australian Taxation Office to force banks to hand over landlord data in investment property crackdown

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Exclusive: Incorrect reporting of rental property income and expenses, and failure to declare capital gains are all in the spotlight

Banks will be compelled to hand over the data of 1.7 million landlords, including transaction details, as part of a tax office crackdown in search of $1.3bn in revenue lost from residential investment properties.

The data-matching program will target people failing to declare rental income or pay capital gains tax, and those incorrectly claiming deductions – including rental property loan interest – to reduce income and negatively gear properties.

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Australia’s richest captured 93% of economic growth between 2009 financial crisis and Covid, paper shows

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Wealthiest 10% captured growth in company profits while most Australians watched their real wages shrink, Australia Institute finds

A new paper from the Australia Institute shows 93% of the benefits of economic growth between 2009 and 2019 went to the top 10%, while the bottom 90% received just 7%.

The paper shows the share of economic growth going to the top 10% over that period was far higher in Australia than in other developed countries, including the US and Canada.

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Keir Starmer follows Rishi Sunak in releasing tax returns

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Labour leader earned little outside his parliamentary income apart from windfall after sister sold home he helped her buy

Keir Starmer has released his tax returns for the last two years, showing that he earned little outside his parliamentary income except for a windfall when his sister sold the family home that he helped her buy.

The Labour leader released a summary of his past two years of tax payments on Thursday, a day after the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, released three years of his.

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Jeremy Hunt defends pensions giveaway as Labour vows to scrap it

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Shadow chancellor says decision to axe lifetime allowance is ‘wrong priority at the wrong time for the wrong people’

The Labour party has vowed to reverse the chancellor’s £1bn budget pensions tax “gilded giveaway” for the wealthiest 1% if it wins the next general election, as Jeremy Hunt defended his decision to scrap the lifetime pensions allowance.

The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said Labour would seek to force a Commons vote next week on the decision, which critics argue will allow the wealthiest people to put a limitless amount into their pension pots, which can then be passed on to their heirs without paying inheritance tax.

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Jeremy Hunt is helping rich instead of helping people into work, says thinktank

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IFS says budget pensions giveaway could open up loophole for avoidance of inheritance tax

Jeremy Hunt’s huge pensions giveaway for the wealthiest 1% may have no impact on increasing the number of people in work, while opening a loophole for avoidance of inheritance tax, a leading economic thinktank has warned.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the surprise measure in the chancellor’s budget “probably won’t play a big part, if any” in increasing the number of people in work.

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Tories call for action over legal threats from powerful figures facing scrutiny

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Solicitors accused of using lawsuits to stifle criticism of prominent figures include those acting for Nadhim Zahawi

Ministers are under pressure to speed up action against the use of legal tactics by powerful figures to silence legitimate criticism. This comes after a surge in investigations into their use.

The Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) warned the profession against employing such tactics at the end of last year, but says their use has increased since then, and it is now examining 40 cases.

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Jim Chalmers ‘furious’ after former PwC tax adviser found to have shared confidential government briefings with staff

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Treasurer vows to ‘throw the book’ at people responsible for breach after unauthorised disclosures of multinational tax consultations

Jim Chalmers has said he is “absolutely furious” at findings a former PwC tax adviser breached the confidentiality of multinational tax consultations by disclosing them to other staff at the firm without authorisation.

On Wednesday, the treasurer promised to “throw the book” at people responsible for what he labelled a “shocking breach of trust, an appalling breach of trust”.

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Minister unable to say whether Zahawi was telling truth when he first said taxes were fully paid – as it happened

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Labour MP asks whether Zahawi statement in the summer was untrue, with Cabinet Office minister saying he does not know the answer

Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative party chair, has welcomed the decision by Rishi Sunak to ask the No 10 ethics adviser to investigate his case. “I am confident I acted properly throughout,” Zahawi said.

Zahawi seems to be using a narrow definition of “properly”. In the statement he issued yesterday, he accepted that his original decision not to pay the tax that HM Revenue and Customs subsequently concluded he should have paid was down to a careless error. He said:

Following discussions with HMRC, they agreed that my father was entitled to founder shares in YouGov, though they disagreed about the exact allocation. They concluded that this was a ‘careless and not deliberate’ error.

Integrity and accountability is really important to me and clearly in this case there are questions that need answering …

That’s why the independent adviser has been asked to fully investigate this matter and provide advice to me on Nadhim Zahawi’s compliance with the ministerial code, and on the basis of that we’ll decide on the appropriate next steps.

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MP calls for action on crime in ‘under siege’ town – as it happened

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Pearson urges voice dissenters to ‘be smart’

Karvelas also asks Pearson about the concerns that are coming from the left, including Indigenous affairs spokesperson for the Greens, Lidia Thorpe, who will be calling for treaty before voice at the Invasion Day rally.

And when you have a breakthrough response, a breakthrough response like constitutional recognition, you’ve got to grab it. You’ve got to switch from protest to grabbing the opportunity.

… And I believe that a full response to the Uluru statement will achieve actual real reconciliation. We’re at a point in our history where the protest has achieved the result we desire. And, and so we’ve got to be smart about it.

This this year is the most important here in the past 235. That’s my assertion. This is the most important year and and this referendum is the most important question concerning Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians since the first fleet.

We’ve got to understand what is at stake, and that is the chance for reconciliation and if the referendum is kiboshed through game play and spoiling game by the opposition, we will lose the opportunity forever.

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Nadhim Zahawi’s position as Tory chair ‘untenable’, says Labour

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Angela Rayner calls for explanation after it emerged former chancellor paid 30% penalty to settle tax bill

Nadhim Zahawi’s position as Conservative party chair is “untenable” after reports he paid a penalty as part of a seven-figure tax settlement, Labour has said.

The former chancellor, who attends cabinet meetings, has faced pressure in parliament and the media after it emerged he agreed to pay millions to HMRC in December after a settlement with the tax agency.

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Tory mayor condemns ‘broken begging bowl culture’ of Sunak’s levelling up policy – UK politics live

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Latest updates: West Midlands mayor Andy Street says it should be for local decision-makers to determine where money is spent

Rishi Sunak has defended the distribution of levelling up funds, saying that the north of England has received more per head than the south.

Speaking on a visit to Accrington, in Lancashire, he said:

The region that has done the best in the amount of funding per person is the north. That’s why we’re here talking to you in Accrington market, these are the places that are benefiting from the funding.

If you look at the overall funding in the levelling-up funds that we’ve done, about two-thirds of all that funding has gone to the most deprived part of our country.

With regard to Catterick Garrison, the thing you need to know is that’s home to our largest army base and it’s home to actually thousands of serving personnel who are often away from their own families serving our country.

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