Expert Services

SMH Tax Lawyers offer practical advice in plain English.  We will tell you realistically what your prospects are of success against the ATO and put in place strategies which may include negotiation or litigation - to best help you deal with the ATO.

Click on an area below to learn more about how we can specifically help you with your taxation matter.

Tax Law & Taxation Advice

Taxation laws are usually confusing and complex and most advisors like to keep it that way.We do not.

Our tax advice lawyers explain tax laws in a way that is easy to understand with practical advice overlaying the technical jargon.
We provide high level advice and solutions relating to taxation matters, including:

• Reducing payroll tax
• Eliminating stamp duty on transfers
• Eliminating self managed super fund "death tax"
• Debt instalment trust for self managed super funds
• Analysing whether a transaction is on capital or income account
• Residency
• Source
• Unpaid present entitlements in Division 7A
• Corporate limited partnerships
• Dividend access shares
• Small business concessions
• Bamford trust amendments
• Trust distributions
• Resettlement of trusts
• Child maintenance trusts and tax effective children
• Tax effective divorce
• Trust cloning and trust splitting
• Corporation re-organisations
• Part 4A 

Tax Litigation & ATO Dispute Services

The ATO engages specialist tax lawyers to fight tax matters. 

So should you.

SMH Tax Lawyers has the tax litigation experience and success rate to allow you to fight on the same level as the ATO.
Our litigation results show that success against the ATO is possible. Our success record includes:

• • Penalties for failure to lodge
  • Director's penalty notices
  • Tax objections
  • Tax appeals � AAT and Federal Court
  • Departure prohibition orders
  • Negotiations with the ATO for payments
  • Restructuring following adverse assessments
  • Assisting with audits
  • ATO raids
  • ATO interviews

Co-operative Tax Planning Services

Clients regularly tell us that their pet hate is lawyers, accountants and financial planners arguing amongst themselves, rather than working together to achieve the best outcome for them. We hate this too.

SMH Tax Lawyers work closely with accountants and financial planners to achieve the optimum taxation and asset protection structures for families and SME businesses, including:

• Tax effective divorce

  Tax effective divorce involving two family lawyers, a tax lawyer, an accountant and a financial planner
  All advisors worked together to achieve a significant tax effective restructure involving dividend access shares, trust cloning and child maintenance trusts with no stamp duty or capital gains tax consequences.

• Dividend access shares to access franking credits
• Consolidation

  Tax consolidation and simplification of a significant and complicated structure involving a financial planner, an accountant, a tax lawyer, international accountants and two generations of family decision makers

  This group involved over 25 entities within the structure and was simplified to five entities without capital gains tax or stamp duty consequences. There was also a significant reduction of risk for the group from an asset protection perspective. The restructure facilitated a seamless transition of control of the group which included family constitutions.

• Share sale agreements
• Superannuation death benefit planning

  Superannuation death benefit strategy involving an accountant, a tax lawyer and an investment adviser
  This was a strategy which reduced a significant amount of death benefits tax which otherwise would have been applicable on a terminally ill person's superannuation fund.