To view our Tax Controversy capability statement, click here.
Being a controversy tax lawyer is very hands on and requires a high level of commercial judgement, strategy, patience and diplomacy in dealing with the ATO.
CharterLaw’s tax controversy section is headed by tax lawyer, Scott Gray, who is part of CharterLaw. The team adopt a no-nonsense approach to ensure that an optimal result is achieved for every client. Scott has had many years of experience in dealing with the Tax Office and understands ATO procedures, when the ATO will and won’t litigate and prosecute and the parameters of negotiating a deal or compromise arrangement with the Tax Office.
If a deal cannot be done then Scott is adept in taking the ATO to task in either the Tribunal or Court to preserve your rights. This skillset can only be honed by experience and a sense of commercial judgement to implement the timing and tactics to best present a matter to ensure a successful outcome.
Scott has a wide range of experience including matters of tax disputes including fraud, failure to lodge, voluntary disclosures, objections, obtain benefit by deception (Commonwealth), tax debt negotiation and insolvency.
He has also dealt with many matters involving offshore assets and low tax jurisdictions, including tax residency issues, which have seen him build a quality rapport with high level officers of the Australian Taxation Office who he regularly negotiates with to settle matters without the need to go to Court.
Some examples of his matters are:
- Tax fraud
- Tax evasion
- ATO litigation
- ATO prosecutions
- ATO audits
- SME audit objections
- Remission of tax, penalties and interest
- Federal Police prosecutions
- Failure to lodge penalties
- Offshore structuring and investment
- Tax residency issues
- Director Penalty Notices
- Deemed dividend assessments
- Liquidation
- Asset protection
- GST objections
- FBT objections
- OSR objections (Land Tax and Payroll Tax)
- The taxation of overseas companies and trusts controlled in Australia.
- Organising the cost-effective preparation and lodgment of prior year income tax returns
In assisting his clients, Scott has appeared at the Local Court of New South Wales, District Court of New South Wales, Supreme Court of New South Wales, Federal Circuit Court of Australia and the Federal Court of Australia and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Given the extraordinary complex nature of tax law in Australia, Scott also has access to other CharterLaw professionals who practice in the related tax areas of tax advisory, planning and strategy and tax compliance.