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Articles, papers and commentary
Published analysis in Thomson Reuters Weekly Tax Bulletin, Accountants Daily, Lawyers Weekly, Accounting Times and The Tax Institute’s journals and conferences, with the firm’s submissions to the Treasury.
2026
Expert commentary
Government needs legal counsel on its ‘tax on the poor’, lawyer says
Accountants Daily & Lawyers Weekly · Expert commentary
The proposed 30 per cent minimum tax on discretionary trusts. Why it would fall hardest on the family members a trust exists to provide for and why section 100A already deals with income kept for someone else. Republished by Lawyers Weekly, 7 October 2026.
Treasury submission
Minimum tax on discretionary trusts: submission on the exposure draft legislation of 3 September 2026
The Treasury · Exposure draft consultation · submission · Norton & Quay Tax Law
Asks that the 30 per cent minimum tax be withdrawn and the electable regime in proposed Division 6F with it. The election asks a trustee to commit in advance to how it will exercise a dispositive discretion in every future year, which the general law of trusts does not permit. If the regime proceeds, the submission sets out the least the draft requires.
PDF, 19 pages · Treasury consultation page
Presentation
The Federal Budget’s CGT Changes - What They Mean
CPA Australia · City Taxation Discussion Group · presentation · Norton & Quay Tax Law
A practical overview of the Budget CGT changes for the practitioners in the group.
Treasury submission
Minimum tax on discretionary trusts: submission on the Consultation Paper of 8 July 2026
The Treasury · Consultation paper · submission · Norton & Quay Tax Law
Argues the measure should be withdrawn because it fails against the Government’s own objectives. It bears most heavily on the beneficiaries the wage earner comparison is meant to protect, collects more tax than its own benchmark and taxes income flowing to corporate beneficiaries twice. Proposes a targeted split income rule on the Canadian model instead.
PDF, 8 pages · Treasury consultation page
Expert commentary
Lost clients, lost livelihood: fair TPB suspension requires hearing, lawyer says
Accountants Daily · Expert commentary
The proposed power for the Tax Practitioners Board to suspend a tax agent for 90 days without prior investigation. Why a hearing should come before the suspension issues.
Bylined article
$253,055 on an unsigned draft: the limits of s 12(4)(b) of the NSW Duties Act
Thomson Reuters Weekly Tax Bulletin · Issue 29, item [560] · practitioner article · Norton & Quay Tax Law
Forever Grateful Holdings Pty Ltd v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [2026] NSWSC 761. Uploading an unexecuted draft transfer to the Revenue NSW eDuties portal does not crystallise a duty liability. A $253,055 assessment on a routine trustee change was revoked; the correct duty was $100.
Subscription publication, no public link.
Bylined article
When should an appellate court disbelieve witnesses it never saw?
Accountants Daily & Lawyers Weekly · Opinion · Norton & Quay Tax Law
Commissioner of Taxation v Cheung [2026] FCAFC 75. When an appellate court may overturn a trial judge’s credibility findings, where the documentary record contradicts the oral evidence. Republished by Lawyers Weekly, 9 June 2026.
Paper & presentation
Year-end trustee resolutions
The Tax Institute · NSW Tax Forum 2026, session 12A · paper and presentation · Norton & Quay Tax Law
What the deed actually requires before 30 June, the mechanics of creating a valid present entitlement and where resolutions most often fail.
Bylined article
Home office occupancy expenses after Hall: is it time to rethink the essential character test?
Accounting Times · Opinion · Norton & Quay Tax Law
Commissioner of Taxation v Hall [2026] FCAFC 43. Employees cannot deduct occupancy expenses for a dedicated home office even where they were required to work from home. And why the Full Court’s reasoning reads as an invitation to revisit the test.
Expert commentary
Qld real estate group misses out on millions in ‘service fee’ deductions
Accountants Daily · Expert commentary
Commissioner of Taxation v S.N.A Group Pty Ltd [2026] FCAFC 10. Why an informal intra-group service fee arrangement did not support a deduction absent objective evidence of agreement on identifiable terms - and the consequences for family businesses that operate on a handshake.
Bylined article
Can the ATO settle a tax dispute and ignore the settlement?
Accountants Daily · Opinion
Ziegler v Commissioner of Taxation [2025] FCAFC 168. Settlement deeds operate in the contractual sphere and do not constrain the Commissioner’s statutory power to assess.
2025
Expert commentary
Trusts here to stay despite mounting complexities, says KPMG partner
Accountants Daily & Accounting Times · Expert commentary
Reporting from the NSW Tax Forum session on the continuing role of trusts in private groups despite compounding compliance complexity.
Co-authored paper
The use of trusts in the 21st century - is the complexity worth it?
The Tax Institute · NSW Tax Forum 2025, session 5A · paper and presentation
Discretionary, unit, hybrid and public trading trusts; sections 99B and 100A; the Bendel litigation; and the debt deduction creation rules as they apply to closely held trusts.
Co-authored with Craig Marston CTA.
2023
Bylined article
Restructuring using roll-overs
The Tax Specialist · Cover article
A practical guide to the existing CGT restructure roll-overs and how they interact, written against the Board of Taxation’s proposed principles-based reform.
Paper & presentation
Restructures
The Tax Institute · Regional Masterclass · paper and presentation
Subdivisions 122-A, 122-B, 124-M, 124-N and 126-G and Division 615, plus how to sequence them.
Elsewhere
Profiles
Shorter analysis of recent decisions is published on the insights page and practical notes for advisers are collected in the fact sheets.
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