CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS – LAWYERS – AUSTRALIA

Tax office targets lawyers’ privileges

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 7 : 22-Jul-19

The Australian Taxation Office is hoping a new industry code of conduct that is being developed with the Law Council of Australia and other professional bodies will lead to improved auditing of multinationals. The ATO is finding it difficult to conduct such audits because lawyers are making blanket claims that documents being sought are subject to legal privilege. ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says law firms have no interest in seeing privilege claims that turn out to be false, as this could put the concept of privilege at risk.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, LAW COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, COMMOTION SYSTEMS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Legal privilege claims in 20pc of ATO multinational cases

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Original article by Tim Pallas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 27-Jun-19

The Australian Taxation Office has revealed that its push to crack down on tax avoidance by multinationals is being stymied by excessive claims that requested documents are protected by legal professional privilege. Deputy commissioner Mark Konza says that of the 122 audits of large multinationals that the ATO is currently undertaking, 24 companies have sought a blanket claim for legal professional privilege. This includes about 19,000 documents in one instance.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE