Expertise

Tony’s career spans over 30 years. He specialises in advising and representing clients in taxation, duty and other revenue laws (in both state and federal jurisdictions).

His practice focuses on mid-market commercial clients and high net-worth individuals, with particular emphasis on SME trusts, private companies and partnerships in structural matters and for mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. He has specific expertise in estate planning for families with sophisticated and complex structures.

Tony represents clients and their accounting advisors in dealing with the ATO and SRO at senior levels in various matters including disputed assessments, tax audits and applications for private rulings.

In Tony’s personal capacity and on behalf of the Law Council of Australia’s Tax Committee and the Law Institute of Victoria’s Taxation & Revenue Committee, he has been appointed to various advisory and consultation panels with the ATO and is currently on the Legal Practitioners Round Table forum and the Tax Practitioners Board Consultative Forum.

Throughout the course of his career, Tony has delivered numerous papers and presentations for the Law Institute of Victoria, the Tax Institute, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, CPA Australia, the National Tax & Accountants Association and other professional bodies promoting expertise in taxation advice to their members.

Experience

  • Detailed capital gains tax advice on maximising entitlements to the CGT small business concessions for discretionary trusts, arising from the sale of a post-CGT building held in a unit trust

  • Advising on a restructure proposal for the head company of a tax consolidated tech company group involving both income tax and ‘landholder’ (stamp) duty issues

  • Drafting an ‘image licence’ for a television celebrity

  • Obtaining a private ruling approving the inclusion of discretionary trust income flowing to grandchildren through the estate of a recently deceased individual with an estate in excess of $30 million

  • Representing a property developer in a dispute with the ATO concerning the write-off of an associated entity debt for GST adjustment purposes.

PRO BONO AND COMMUNITY WORK

  • Tony has twice been awarded the Law Institute of Victoria’s Certificate of Service in recognition of outstanding contributions to the LIV and the legal profession.

Memberships and Associations

  • The Tax Institute (former Victorian State Council member and member of the Education Committee)

  • Law Council of Australia (Tax Committee member)

  • Law Institute of Victoria (Taxation & Revenue Committee member and former Chair)

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Commerce (the University of Melbourne)

  • Master of Tax (the University of Melbourne)

  • Chartered Tax Adviser (the Tax Institute)

  • Accredited Tax Law Specialist (the Law Institute)

Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice

  • Bachelor of Laws (the University of Melbourne)

  • Victoria

  • All federal jurisdictions

“Tax and other revenue consequences are essential components in the architecture of business entities and business transactions. It is a fundamental requirement for those components to be addressed up front and moulded into the fabric of the legal work that is being undertaken on behalf of each client.”

Tax
Wills & Estate