It has not been all work and no play at Anderssens with Scott Thompson, Managing Director rowing the 8.6km course in a mixed eight at this year’s Head of the Yarra in Melbourne. Enjoying a second place in his esteemed age group from the Sunshine Coast Rowing Club.
As well earlier in the month, Richard Thompson competed in an Ironman Triathlon held at Busselton, Western Australia. Richard finished the 3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42km run in 9:01 and in doing so he qualified for the famous Hawaiian Ironman World Championships next October.
We are looking forward to putting some of our fitness goals on hold over the relaxing and festive Christmas season and getting back into them in the New Year!
If you are a non-resident of Australia and you own agricultural land in Australia then you need to ensure that your agricultural land holdings have been registered on the new Australian Agricultural Land Register. [Click here for register]
There are recently announced new deadlines to register your interests. Penalties may apply to those who fail to register by the extended deadlines.
All foreign individuals, companies and trustees non-residents who:
- have held agricultural land on or after 1 July 2015 and before 1 February 2016, are required to register their interests by 29 February 2016; and
- start to hold agricultural land on or after 1 February 2016 are required to register their interests before the end of 30 days after you start to hold the land.
If you:
- are uncertain if under Australian law the Australian Taxation Office will treat you as a non-resident for agricultural land holding purposes; or
- need advice or assistance concerning your Australian agricultural holdings or registration of your interests on the new Australian Agricultural Land Register,
then please call me to discuss - 07 3234 3112.
An informative article regarding the Munro v Munro case written by our Richard Thompson, together with Richard Williams of Counsel. To read article Click Here.
The Australian Treasury is actively investigating 532 cases of possible breaches of the Government’s foreign investment rules. Treasury has recently forced various foreign owners to sell a further seven illegally held residential properties located in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Since it took office in 2013, the government has forced foreign nationals to sell 19 properties.
The Treasurer has recently reminded foreign investors who have purchased residential properties without notifying the Foreign Investment Review Board that they have until 30 November 2015 to disclose those transactions without penalty. [Click here to read more]
If you are a foreign national and are uncertain as to your obligations in respect of your purchase of residential property then please call me to discuss.
A recent case [MERCANTI -v- MERCANTI [2015] WASC 297],
where one trust deed amendment was effective but another was found by the court
not to be a valid amendment, demonstrates that good advice and drafting is needed
to ensure valid and effective amendments to trust deeds.
In this case the
person empowered by each of two different trust deeds to amend the trust deed
purported to exercise those powers to change the person named as the
‘appointor’ in each of the trust deeds. The person removed from the ‘appointor’
position challenged his removal and the court found that the wording of the
relevant clauses was critical. In one case the court found that the
power was sufficiently wide to authorise the change but not in the other. If
your Trust deeds need amending, (and many do) then please call me to discuss.
Richard Thompson and Kylie Wilson recently hosted a successful seminar entitled "Should you be drafting your SMSF Binding Nominations?".
It was a very popular seminar primarily attended by those in the financial planning and accounting industries. The attendees thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and further discussion surrounding the Munro v Munro case and took full advantage of having Richard Thompson as a presenter, being the lead lawyer on behalf of the Trustee in Munro. The attendees also enjoyed a presentation from Richard Williams, Counsel for the successful Trustee in the Munro case, discussing what was submitted in Court by both parties.
The seminar also discussed the possible ramifications of advisers and accountants preparing and settling SMSF Trust Deeds and Binding Nominations and the possible consequences of this if such documents were negligently drafted. Discussions were also had as to the attendees' professional indemnity insurer would cover them in preparing these legal documents.
This presentation was also timely since the announcement from Axis that it will wind down the Australian Retail Insurance Operations Axis Specialty Australia. The fact that Axis Australia has ceased "on new and renewal insurances of both accountants and financial planners from 8 October 2015" goes towards illustrating the difficulties that professional indemnity insurers are finding when it comes to the grey area of insuring accountants and financial planners who delve into the creation of legal documents such as SMSF Trust Deeds and/or the binding nominations.
As suggested at the seminar, it is imperative that all advisers and accountants review the public disclosure statement of their insurer to determine whether they would be covered in such an instance. In addition it is our view that they should be referring the drafting of any deeds and nominations to their solicitor.
The seminar was a true success not only from the content delivered but from the informative and collaborative discussions by all attendees.
Look out for the next seminar presented by Anderssen Lawyers in the near future.
If you wish to discuss the terms of any SMSF Trust Deeds or binding nominations, please do not hesitate to contact Kylie Wilson on 07 3234 3102 or Richard Thompson on 07 3234 3113.
As many of those who work in the industry will know, the Queensland government is planning to bring yet further changes to this area of law with the draft Planning Bill 2015 being released for public consultation in early September this year. Some of the key changes being made to the legislation include changes to chapter 3 regulating development assessment including changes to the types of development and the process for assessing applications.
Further information in relation to the planning reforms can be found at the following website: www.dilgp.qld.gov.au/planning-reformIf you propose to make a submission in relation to the draft bill the closing date for consultation is fast approaching with all submissions to be made by 6pm, 23 October 2015.
As the process progresses we will be providing further details on the changes and the potential impacts they will have in practice.
