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Annual Report 2016 The Tax Group
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Contents About the Tax Group ............................................................................................................................... 2
Tax Group Directors and Members ......................................................................................................... 3
Adjunct Faculty 2016 .............................................................................................................................. 6
Visitors 2016 ........................................................................................................................................... 6
The Tax Program ..................................................................................................................................... 7
Melbourne Law Masters ......................................................................................................................... 7
Juris Doctor ............................................................................................................................................. 8
Breadth ................................................................................................................................................... 8
Events ...................................................................................................................................................... 9
Tax Soiree with Professor Peter Harris ................................................................................................... 9
Tax Soiree with Michael Evans ................................................................................................................ 9
IFA and Tax Group Seminar – Malcolm Gammie QC .............................................................................. 9
Federal Court and Law School VAT/GST Seminar ................................................................................. 10
Annual Tax Lecture ............................................................................................................................... 10
Publications ........................................................................................................................................... 11
Book Chapters ....................................................................................................................................... 11
Revised Books ....................................................................................................................................... 11
Journal Articles Refereed ...................................................................................................................... 11
Online Articles ....................................................................................................................................... 11
Other Articles, Reports, Working Papers and Conference Papers........................................................ 11
Engagement and Knowledge Transfer .................................................................................................. 12
Contact details for the Tax Group ......................................................................................................... 13
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About the Tax Group
The Tax Group is a focal point for excellence in tax research and education. It brings together full-time
academic faculty and leading members of professional firms, the judiciary and the Tax Bar to carry out
scholarly research into tax law and policy; teach a large and diverse number of tax subjects in the
Melbourne Law Masters, Juris Doctor and University Breadth programs; and engage with government,
the profession and wider community on tax law and policy.
The Tax Group’s research interests are diverse and include Australian individual and corporate income
tax, comparative and international taxation and critical perspectives on taxation. Much of the research
work carried out by the Tax Group is interdisciplinary and comparative in nature.
The Tax Group hosts a number of public events throughout the year ranging from small research
seminars to the larger Annual Tax Lecture. The Tax Group also hosts Australian branch meetings of
the International Fiscal Association.
The Tax Group has strong international tax connections including with New York University; Oxford
University Centre for Business Taxation at the Said Business School; and the Cambridge University Law
School Centre for Tax Law. It also has a significant connection nationally with the Tax and Transfer
Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, the Australian National University.
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Tax Group Directors and Members Director
Associate Professor Sunita Jogarajan (from March 2016)
Dr Sunita Jogarajan is Co-Director of the Tax Group at Melbourne Law School, where she teaches and researches in taxation law. Sunita's primary research interest is in the influence of the League of Nations on international taxation, particularly the development of model tax treaties. Sunita also researches in Australian corporate tax and tax administration. She has previously written on the role of the IMF on tax reform and the integration of tax regimes in ASEAN member countries.
Sunita previously worked at a 'Big 4' tax practice in corporate tax and tax policy. She has been involved in a multi-billion dollar international due diligence, engagements for regional governments and policy advice.
Sunita is a previous recipient of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council citation for 'outstanding contribution to student learning'.
Director
Associate Professor Mike Kobetsky (from March 2016)
Dr Michael Kobetsky is an Associate Professor at Melbourne Law School. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Australian National University College of Law.
Dr Kobetsky researches in transfer pricing, tax treaties, international anti-avoidance measures and domestic taxation, and he is the principal author of one of Australia’s leading taxation texts, which is now in its ninth edition (2016). His book, titled 'International Taxation of Permanent Establishments: Principles and Policy' was published by Cambridge University Press in 2011. Dr Kobetsky has published extensively on international taxation in journals in Australia, Canada and Europe.
Dr Kobetsky is a member of the United Nations Sub-Committee on Transfer Pricing and the United Nations Sub-Committee on Extractive Industries Taxation Issues for Developing Countries. He has worked as a consultant for the OECD, USAID in Nepal, the World Bank in Indonesia, and GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit or German Society for International Cooperation which is the German government’s foreign-aid organization) in Laos and Malawi.
Dr Kobetsky has 10 years’ experience as a senior executive officer with the Australian Taxation Office in their policy and legislation group designing and implementing tax law and policies.
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Director
Professor Ann O’Connell (until March 2016)
Ann O'Connell is Professor at Melbourne Law School specialising in taxation. She is Special Counsel at Allens, Solicitors, a member of the Advisory Panel to the Board of Taxation and a member of the Australian Tax Office Public Rulings Panel and GAAR Panel. She was also a member of the Working Group established by the Assistant Treasurer in 2012 to consider the tax concessions for the Not-For-Profit Sector and has worked as an advisor to the OECD in Paris.
Ann lectures in taxation and in corporations and securities regulation.
She has written on taxation of charities, taxation of superannuation, tax avoidance and on capital gains tax issues.
Member
Associate Professor Mark Burton
Dr Mark Burton has worked in the field of taxation law for more than 20 years: in private practice and also as an academic. Mark has taught extensively in the taxation law field at undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels. Mark has undertaken consultancies with the Australian Taxation Office and also with the Australian National Audit Office.
Mark’s research and scholarship on tax matters have been published both within Australia and internationally. This research spans technical tax issues, the theory and practice of tax administration, the ethical aspect of taxation law, tax policy and the tax legislative process. Mark is co-author of Understanding Taxation Law, LexisNexis, 2017 and Tax Expenditure Management – A Critical Assessment, Cambridge University Press, 2013. Mark completed his PhD (Law) at the Australian National University, and his doctoral dissertation examined the theory, history and practice of interpreting tax legislation.
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Member
Professor Miranda Stewart, Faculty (returned from leave mid-2016)
Miranda Stewart is currently part-time at the Faculty, while being Director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. Miranda teaches and researches across a broad range of tax law and policy topics including business taxation, tax and development, not-for-profits, and tax reform in the context of globalisation. She is an author or editor of several books, including Not for Profit Law (Cambridge Uni Press, 2014, with Harding and O’Connell), Sham Transactions (Oxford University Press, 2013 with Simpson), Tax, Law and Development (Edward Elgar, 2013, with Brauner), Death and Taxes(Thomson Reuters, 6th ed., 2014 with Flynn), Income Taxation Commentary and Materials (Thomson Reuters, 8th ed., 2017 with Cooper, Dirkis and Vann) and Housing and Tax Policy (Australian Tax Research Foundation, 2010). Miranda has been a visiting fellow at NYU School of Law, NY USA and at Christ Church, Oxford on the Melbourne-Oxford Faculty Exchange and is an International Research Fellow with the Centre for Business Taxation at Oxford University. Miranda was a Consultant to the Henry Tax Review into Australia's Future Tax System. Before joining the Faculty in 2000, Miranda taught at NYU in the leading International Tax program in the US and previously worked in the Australian Tax Office on tax policy and legislation and as a solicitor in a large law firm. She has taught in the graduate tax programs at Osgoode Hall Law School and the University of Toronto, Canada; and the University of Florida Levin College of Law, United States.
Centre Administrator
Ms Cindy Halliwell
Cindy Halliwell joined the University of Melbourne in 2010, as Communications co-ordinator for the Centre for Aquatic Pollution Identification and Management (CAPIM) in the Faculty of Science. In 2015 she joined the Melbourne Law School as Research Centre Administrator for several research centres, including the Tax Group. Cindy brings administrative and project management experience from the airline and finance industries. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations/ Tourism, a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and currently undertaking a Bachelor of Laws.
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Tax Group Adjunct Faculty 2016
Jennifer Batrouney QC, Victorian Bar
Professor Lee Burns, University of Sydney
Melanie Baker, Victorian Bar
Michael Charles, Deloitte
The Hon. Justice Jennifer Davies, Federal Court of Australia
Andrew de Wijn, Victorian Bar
Aldrin De Zilva, Greenwoods and Herbert Smith Freehills
Michael Evans, Taxsifu
Michael Flynn, Victorian Bar
Peter Gillies, Pitcher Partners
Stewart Grieve, Johnson Winter & Slattery Lawyers
Professor Matthew Harding, Melbourne Law School
Michelle Herring, JGL Investments Pty Ltd
Lisa Hespe, Victorian Bar
Nasos Kaskani, Victorian Bar
Terry Murphy QC, Victorian Bar
Tim Neilson, Greenwoods and Herbert Smith Freehills
Frank O’Loughlin, Victorian Bar
Adrian O’Shannessy, Greenwoods and Herbert Smith Freehills
The Hon. Justice GT Pagone, Federal Court of Australia
Simon Steward QC, Victorian Bar
Shannon Smit, Transfer Pricing Solutions
Eugene Wheelahan, Victorian Bar
Tax Group Visitors 2016
In 2016, the Tax Group hosted the following eminent international tax scholars to teach in the Melbourne Law Masters program:
• Professor Brian Arnold, Canadian Tax Foundation, Canada • Philip Baker QC, English Bar, United Kingdom • Professor Peter Harris, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom • Jacques Sasseville, OECD, Austria
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The Tax Program at Melbourne Law School
In 2016, the Tax Group offered the following subjects at the Law School:
Melbourne Law Masters (MLM) in Taxation
Subject Name Lecturers
Capital Gains Tax: Problems in Practice Mark Burton, Michael Flynn
Charity Law for the 21st Century Matthew Harding, Jennifer Batrouney QC
Comparative Corporate Tax Peter Harris
Comparative International Tax Brian Arnold
Corporate Taxation A (Shareholders, Debt and Equity)
Frank O’Loughlin, Stewart Grieve, Nasos Kaskani
Corporate Taxation A (Shareholders, Debt and Equity) - Deloitte
Frank O’Loughlin, Stewart Grieve, Nasos Kaskani
Foundations of Tax Law Mark Burton
Goods and Services Tax Principles Michael Evans
International Tax: Anti-Avoidance Lee Burns
International Tax: Principles and Structure Michael Kobetsky, Peter Gillies
Special Issues in Tax Treaties Jacques Sasseville
Tax Avoidance and Planning Pagone L, Davies J, Eugene Wheelahan
Tax Litigation Simon Steward QC, Melanie Baker, Lisa Hespe
Taxation of Business & Investment Income Michelle Herring, Tim Neilson
Taxation of Business & Investment Income Lee Burns
Taxation of Mergers and Acquisitions Aldrin De Zilva, Michael Charles
Tax Treaties Michael Kobetsky
Taxation of Trusts Terry Murphy QC, Adrian O'Shannessy, Andrew de Wijn
Transfer Pricing: Practice and Problems Michael Kobetsky, Shannon Smit
UK International Tax Philip Baker QC
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Juris Doctor (JD)
• Taxation Law and Policy • Legal Research stream ‘Taxation: Theory and Practice’
Breadth Subjects
These subjects are taught to non-law undergraduate students and exchange students undertaking undergraduate law degrees
• Taxation Law I • Taxation Law II
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Events
Tax Soiree with Professor Peter Harris
Tax Soiree with Michael Evans Tuesday 17th May Topic: ‘Developments and recent issues in GST’ Michael retired from KPMG, Australia in Dec 2009 after more than 20 years as a taxation partner in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. He is currently a sole practitioner consultant and advisor in taxation design, policy and strategy. He has been a Senior Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne since 1998 for the University's GST subjects of the Master of Tax. He has held senior taxation roles in both the public and private sector for more than 40 years, during which he has provided policy, design and legislative advice and assistance to Australian and other Governments as well as Australia's largest companies and industry groups.
IFA and Tax Group Seminar – Malcolm Gammie QC Monday 25th July Topic: ‘New Developments in UK International Tax: A Never-ending story’ The UK government is yet again in the process of tinkering in major ways with elements of our international tax regime – new restrictions on interest relief, new limitations in loss reliefs, further changes to taxation of non-domicilied taxpayers, new hybrid rules, new rules for non-resident developers of UK land, new withholding tax rules, taxation of carried interest, rules for disclosing people with significant control, anti-avoidance rules for this that and the other, new penalties for recalcitrant taxpayers etc. The list is never ending.”
Malcolm Gammie QC is a former tax partner at the City law firm Linklaters. He moved to the Bar in 1997 and took Silk in 2002. His practice covers most aspects of UK commercial, EC and international taxation. He is a professor at Leiden University in The Netherlands and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics. He sits part time as a tax tribunal judge.
Tuesday 5th April Topic: ‘Developments in corporate taxation’ Peter Harris, originally from Queensland, is a Professor of Tax Law at the University of Cambridge, where he is also Director of the Centre for Tax Law. His primary academic interest is in international, corporate and comparative tax law, its history and development. He is a Fellow of and the Director of Studies in law at Churchill College. He is the author of five international tax books, the most recent being Corporate Tax Law (2013). He is the Academic Editor of the Cambridge Tax Law Series (CUP) and Assistant Editor (International) for the British Tax Review and a Technical Assistance Adviser for the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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Federal Court and Law School VAT/GST Seminar
Wednesday 3rd August
Topic: ‘Input Tax Deductibility and Neutrality’
Presenters included Justice Dr Friederike Grube, a member of the Federal Tax Court in Germany and Professor Rebecca Millar, University of Sydney. Convened by Justice Jennifer Davies, Federal Court of Australia. Topics of discussion included ‘Jurisdiction on the ECJ about the right to deduct input-VAT and the principle of neutrality’ and ‘How different is the Australian GST really?’.
This event was held at the Federal Court in Melbourne and streamed to other capital cities.
Annual Tax Lecture
Wednesday 31st August
Topic: ‘Can’t tax; won’t tax. Some reflections on jurisdiction to impose and collect taxes’
Presented by Philip Baker QC, Field Court Tax Chambers, Gray’s Inn.
Abstract: Jurisdiction to impose and collect taxes as the starting point of international tax law, and is fundamental to the existence of a state itself. The BEPS project has said very little about jurisdiction to tax, but around the world states are seeking to extend or rationalise their jurisdiction to tax. This talk will focus on some guiding principles and some new ideas in demarcating the tax jurisdiction of states.
Philip Baker QC began practice in 1987, having been a full-time lecturer in law at London University from 1979 until then. He took silk in 2002. Philip specialises primarily in international aspects of taxation, which covers bother corporate and private client matters. He has a particular interest in taxation and the European Convention on Human Rights, and is the author of a book on Double Taxation Conventions. He has appeared in cases before courts and tribunals at virtually every level from the Special Commissioners (now the Tax Tribunal) to the House of Lords, Privy Council and ECJ.
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Publications and Conference Presentations
Book Chapters
Michael Kobetsky, “Are the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines Part of the OECD Commentary?” in (H Rosenbloom ed), International Tax Planning (2016).
Revised Books
Michael Kobetsky, C Brown, R Fisher, S Villios, P Gillies, Income Tax: Text, Materials and Essential Cases (Federation Press, 9th ed, 2016).
K Sadiq, C Coleman, R Hanegbi, S Jogarajan, R Krever, W Obst, J Teoh, A Ting, Principles of Taxation Law (ThomsonReuters, 2016).
Frank Gilders, John Taylor, Michael Walpole, Mark Burton and Tony Ciro, Understanding Taxation Law 2016, (LexisNexis Butterworths, 2016).
Journal Articles – Refereed
Sunita Jogarajan, “Regulating the Regulator: Assessing the Effectiveness of the ATO’s External Scrutiny Arrangements” (2016) 18 Journal of Australian Taxation 23-41.
Online Articles and Op-eds
Miranda Stewart and David Ingles, ‘For single parents, it pays to work’, The Conversation (online), 7 November 2016 <https://theconversation.com/for-single-parents-it-pays-to-work-68158>.
Miranda Stewart, ‘The Contradictions of International Tax’, Australian Institute of International Affairs: Promoting Understanding of International Issues (4 August 2016) <http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australian_outlook/the-contradictions-of-international-tax/>.
Miranda Stewart, David Ingles, Steve Thomas and Shuchita Pota, ‘Election 2016: Tax policies of the major parties – Part 1’ on Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific (1 July 2016) <https://taxpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/department-news/7946/election-2016-tax-policies-major-parties-part-i>.
Miranda Stewart, David Ingles, Steve Thomas and Shuchita Pota, ‘Election 2016: Tax policies of the major parties – Part 2’ on Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific (2 July 2016) <https://taxpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/department-news/7947/election-2016-tax-policies-major-parties-part-ii>.
David Ingles and Miranda Stewart, ‘Tax white paper: Our pension is too mean, our super tax concessions too generous’, The Age, 13 January 2016.
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Miranda Stewart, ‘Gender neutral policies are a myth: why we need a woman’s budget’, The Conversation, 16 March 2016 and at Austaxpolicy.com http://www.austaxpolicy.com/813-2/
Other Articles, Reports, Working Papers and Conference Papers
Miranda Stewart, ‘Five Ideas to help fix Australia’s tax system’ in The Conversation, Ideas for Australia: 10 big issues for election 2016 and beyond (2016: The Conversation Future Leaders series), 9-12.
Miranda Stewart, ‘Directions and Tensions in Australian Company Tax Policy Design, Challenges and Directions for the Future’, Korea Tax Research Forum, Annual Conference Published Collection (Korean and English) (November 12, 2016)
Miranda Stewart, ‘Transnational Tax Law: Fiction or Reality, Future or Now?”, Working Paper, Colloquium on Tax Policy and Public Finance, New York University School of Law, USA, available from: http://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/upload_documents/Miranda%20Stewart3.pdf .
Peter Varela, and Miranda Stewart, TTPI Policy Brief: The Goods and Services Tax https://taxpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/publication/9080/goods-and-services-tax-gst (2016) Sunita Jogarajan, ‘The Role of the League of Nations in the Development of Double Tax Agreements’ presented at the European Society of Comparative Legal History 4th Biennial Conference, Gdansk, Poland (28 June – 1 July 2016). Sunita Jogarajan, ‘The “Great Powers” and the Development of the 1928 Model Tax Treaties’ presented at the Tax Law History Conference VIII, Cambridge, United Kingdom (11-12 July 2016). Mark Burton, ‘Why history matters to tax lawyers – the interpretation of “income according to ordinary concepts”’presented at 7th Queensland Tax Researchers’ Symposium, 26 September 2016, Cairns, Australia.
Engagement
The Tax Group convenes a monthly Tax Discussion Group, chaired by Terry Murphy QC. The group discusses current and topical taxation issues. Members include practitioners and academics associated with the Melbourne Law School.
Associate Professor Sunita Jogarajan met with Indian tax officials to discuss tax administration issues.
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Contact Details
The Tax Group
Melbourne Law School
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010
Phone: +61 3 90354548
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/tax-group
