Specialist Tax Law · Sydney
A specialist tax law practice built on a decade of experience advising Australia’s most complex private groups, corporates and high net worth individuals.
Meet the Principal
Specialist Tax Law · Sydney
A specialist tax law practice built on a decade of experience advising Australia’s most complex private groups, corporates and high net worth individuals.
Meet the PrincipalThe Practice
Norton & Quay Tax Law is a specialist taxation law practice based in Sydney, offering the full spectrum of tax advisory, dispute resolution and transactional support. The firm brings together deep technical expertise with a client-first philosophy: providing the calibre of advice typically found at leading national firms, within a focused boutique environment built for responsiveness, accountability and long-term relationships.
Areas of Practice
ATO audits and reviews, voluntary disclosures, objections, settlement negotiations, penalty and interest remission, and litigation support through to the AAT and Federal Court.
Strategic private ruling applications, pre-lodgment compliance reviews and early engagement with the ATO to establish defensible positions before issues escalate.
Income tax, CGT and GST advice for complex transactions, restructures, succession planning and ongoing governance across trusts, companies and partnerships.
Tax structuring and due diligence for private M&A, financing transactions, investment structures and post-deal implementation.
Division 7A, section 100A, trust distributions, private group governance, small business CGT concessions and family group restructuring.
Thin capitalisation, hybrid mismatch rules, TOFA, foreign income, residency issues and inbound/outbound investment structuring.
Principal
Australian Legal Practitioner
Arda Ahmed is an Australian legal practitioner and the principal of Norton & Quay Tax Law. He brings a decade of specialist taxation law experience, beginning his career as a tax law graduate at EY in Perth before progressing through a succession of Doyle’s Guide ranked specialist tax practices: Birchstone Tax Law and Fry Legal in Western Australia, West Garbutt in Queensland, and then KPMG Australia and Mills Oakley in Sydney.
At Fry Legal, Arda worked directly with Daniel Fry, ranked by Doyle’s Guide as a leading WA tax lawyer every year since 2018, advising on taxation issues, ATO disputes and regulatory matters. At West Garbutt, he worked directly with Mark West, ranked by Doyle’s Guide as Queensland’s preeminent tax lawyer every year since 2017, advising private groups, charities and corporates on complex tax disputes, structuring and integrity provisions including Division 7A, section 100A and Part IVA. That training, across two of Australia’s highest ranked specialist tax firms, gave Arda the deep technical grounding and client-facing rigour that underpin his approach today.
Most recently Special Counsel in the taxation team at Mills Oakley, and previously Associate Director at KPMG Australia, Arda has advised high net worth individuals, private groups, corporates and not-for-profit organisations on complex income tax, capital gains tax and GST matters. He has deep experience managing ATO audits and reviews, including engagements under the Top 100 and Next 5,000 private group programs, as well as voluntary disclosures, objections, settlement strategy and litigation support.
His transactional practice spans private M&A and financing structuring, due diligence, cross-border arrangements (including thin capitalisation, hybrids and TOFA), and complex trust and private group restructuring. Arda is a recognised contributor to the profession. He has authored the cover article for Tax Specialist on restructuring using roll-overs, and published expert analysis and commentary in Accountants Daily on recent Federal Court tax decisions. Arda presented at the 2025 NSW Tax Forum on the use of trusts in the 21st century and is a presenter at the 2026 NSW Tax Forum on trust year end resolutions.
Master of Taxation, UNSW
LLM Corporate Law, University College London
LLB (Hons) Law with Politics, University of Manchester
GDLP, College of Law & UWA
Admitted, Supreme Court of Western Australia
Current Australian practising certificate
Associate Member, The Tax Institute of Australia
Mills Oakley | Special Counsel
KPMG Australia | Associate Director (Big 4)
West Garbutt | Senior Associate (Doyle’s Guide 1st Tier, QLD)
Fry Legal | Solicitor (Doyle’s Guide ranked, WA)
Birchstone Tax Law | Solicitor (Doyle’s Guide ranked, WA)
EY | Graduate/Solicitor (Big 4)
Accountants Daily | published author & commentator
NSW Tax Forum 2026 | presenter, Trust Year End Resolutions
NSW Tax Forum 2025 | presenter and paper on The use of trusts in the 21st century – is the complexity worth it?
Tax Specialist | cover article Restructure using roll-overs (Oct 2023)
In the Media
Arda Ahmed analyses the Full Federal Court’s decision in Ziegler v Commissioner of Taxation [2025] FCAFC 168, examining why settlement deeds operate in the contractual sphere and do not constrain the Commissioner’s statutory assessment powers.
Accountants Daily · 20 February 2026Arda Ahmed provides expert commentary on the Federal Court’s decision in Commissioner of Taxation v S.N.A Group [2026] FCAFC 10, warning family businesses that informal arrangements do not constitute legally binding contracts in tax disputes.
Who We Serve