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Who We Help
For accountants and advisers
We do not lodge returns, we do not do compliance, and we do not take your client. We do the tax law work you need done properly and hand it back.
Most of our work comes from accountants. That relationship only works on one condition, so we will state it plainly: Norton & Quay is not a tax agent. We do not prepare returns, we do not do compliance, and we do not solicit the rest of your client’s work. Where a matter finishes, the client goes back to you.
What we add is the part that sits outside compliance — a written legal position you can put on the file, legal professional privilege where it matters, and the ability to run a dispute through objection and beyond.
What we are usually asked for
The work
- A second opinion on a position before it is lodged
- Written advice on a point that needs to be defensible if it is looked at
- Trust deed review and year-end trustee resolutions
- Division 7A and section 100A analysis on a private group
- A private ruling application, drafted and lodged
- An audit or review response, once it stops being a routine information request
- An objection against an assessment, amended assessment or ruling
- Restructure advice, including rollovers and the small business CGT concessions
- Duty, land tax and payroll tax questions on a client transaction
- A quick sanity check on a scenario, at no charge
Why accountants bring us in
Why accountants bring us in
Privilege
Legal professional privilege attaches to legal advice from a lawyer. The accountants’ concession is an administrative practice, not a legal privilege, and it does not apply in the same way. Where a matter is sensitive, that difference matters.
An independent view on your own client’s position
There are positions it is uncomfortable for the compliance adviser to form a view on. An external legal opinion resolves that, and protects the relationship.
The matter has stopped being about numbers
Once a position paper, a penalty assessment or an objection is involved, the work is legal work with a legal deadline attached.
Capability without adding headcount
Boutique and mid-size practices generally do not have a tax lawyer on staff. Having one available on a matter-by-matter basis is cheaper than not having one.
How we work with you
How it works
You stay in the relationship. We copy you on everything, and we are comfortable with you as the primary point of contact throughout.
No compliance, no poaching. We do not hold a tax agent registration and we do not want your compliance work. That is the basis of the arrangement.
Free initial sanity check. If you want to talk a scenario through before deciding whether it needs a formal engagement, that conversation is free. Most of them end with ‘you do not need us for this’.
Fixed fees where the scope allows. You get a fee estimate you can pass on to the client before the work starts.
Common questions
Will you take my client?
No. Norton & Quay does not do tax compliance, does not hold a tax agent registration, and does not solicit compliance work from clients referred by accountants. When the matter is finished, the client goes back to you.
Do you charge for an initial discussion?
No. A short conversation to work out whether there is a real issue and what it would take to deal with it is not charged. If it turns into a matter, you get a scope and a fee estimate before any work starts.
Can you present to our team or our discussion group?
Yes. We present on technical tax topics to accounting firms and professional discussion groups — trust resolutions, Division 7A, section 100A, state tax exposures and recent decisions.
Related insights
Further reading
Trusts
Five traps hiding in old trust deeds
Appointor dead-ends, no income definition, defective default clauses, foreign beneficiaries and missing streaming powers: five defects in older trust deeds.
Division 7A
Bendel is decided. Now mind the window
The High Court has held an unpaid present entitlement is not a Division 7A loan. What it means, what must be unwound, and why 1 July 2028 changes things.
Trusts
Section 100A: when trust distributions come undone
How section 100A applies to trust distributions, what the ordinary family or commercial dealing exclusion requires, and what Guardian and BBlood decided.
State taxes
“I relied on my lawyer” is not a defence. Proof of advice is.
Reliance on an adviser only supports penalty and interest remission where the retainer, the question asked and the advice received are actually in evidence.
Have a matter you want a straight answer on?
Most engagements start with a short conversation about the issue, what the exposure looks like and what it would cost to deal with it properly. There is no charge for that conversation.