Tax Office denied access to family law documents

Following on from recent posts, another decision arising out of family law proceedings that is worth remembering is International Litigation Partners Pte Ltd v FCT [2014] FCA 671.

If you would like a copy of the decision please email me. In this particular case, the Tax Office had sought access to material filed in the family court proceedings to assist in determining the tax residency of various related entities of the husband.  While the former wife consented to access being granted, the husband opposed access.

In ultimately denying the Tax Office access to the documents requested, the court confirmed:

1. The court must use its discretion to determine whether access to family court documents is appropriate on a case by case basis.


2. The exercise of the discretion involves the weighing of a number of competing interests, and in particular, whether the Tax Office was likely to derive any substantial benefit by breaching the confidential nature of personal documents filed in family court proceedings. 


3. The court should also take into account practical difficulties in separating documents that might be of use to the Tax Office and those that disclose personal issues (including those concerning the children of the relationship). 


4. Also of relevance is whether the spouse to the marriage is party to a Tax Office litigation (in this case, the husband was not a party).  As set out in earlier posts, in the Darling matter, the husband was a party to Tax Office audit activity.

Until next week.


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Some ramifications of failed trust distributions

For those that do not otherwise have access to the Weekly Tax Bulletin, the most recent published article by fellow View Legal Director Tara Lucke and I is extracted below.

As regularly addressed in the Weekly Tax Bulletin, a methodical approach is needed when preparing trust distribution resolutions to ensure the intended outcomes are achieved.

As explored at 2014 WTB 27 [942], there are a range of issues often overlooked in relation to distribution resolutions.

Where a purported trust distribution is subsequently found to be invalid, several potential ramifications arise, including:

• The "knowing recipient" principle.
• Disallowed deductions.
• Disclaimers.
• Equity and rectification.
• Impact of any default provisions.

Further comments on each of these issues are set out in turn below.

"Knowing recipient" principle

"Knowing recipient" is a principle that evolved out of situations where a trustee (who holds property on trust on behalf of the beneficiaries of a trust) appropriates trust funds for the benefit of a third party who has knowledge of the trust relationship. 

The concept gives the "wronged" beneficiaries the right to make a personal claim against the third party on the basis that the third party received the trust property, whilst having knowledge of the relationship between the property in question, the trustee and the beneficiaries. 

Impact of disallowed deductions

The treatment of disallowed deductions turns largely on the way in which the relevant distribution resolution is crafted. 

Broadly, there are 3 possible outcomes, namely:

• the amounts representing the disallowed deductions will be validly distributed to a particular beneficiary via the provisions of a distribution resolution;
• the default provisions under the trust deed will regulate the distribution (further comments in this regard are set out below); or
• the amount will be treated as an accumulation to the trust and the trustee will be taxed at the highest marginal tax rate is applied.

Disclaimers

In FCT v Ramsden [2005] FCAFC 39, the court held that the purported disclaimers by particular beneficiaries were ineffective.  However, it was confirmed that any interest acquired in the net income of a trust under the default provisions of a deed could be disclaimed by a beneficiary separately from any other entitlements which might accrue to that beneficiary under other provisions of the deed.

It was also confirmed that a disclaimer can be made retrospectively, provided it is made within a reasonable period of time from the beneficiary first becoming aware of the relevant interest that they wish to disclaim.

Equity and rectification

A court may use the equitable remedy of rectification where there is an error in a trust document which does not reflect the intentions of the parties and in turn, results in an invalid distribution. 

In order for rectification to be granted, the party applying for the court to exercise its discretion must establish 3 elements:

• the intention that the parties had in relation to the document up until the time the distribution resolution was executed
• a mistake was made in the document that does not reflect the parties' true intentions; an
• if the rectification order was granted, it would correct the mistake and match the parties' intentions.

Importantly, rectification will not be granted where there is simply an inadvertent financial result that occurred due to a misunderstanding of the consequences of a deliberate act.

Default provisions

From a trust law perspective, default capital provisions, and in some cases, default income provisions, under discretionary trusts are generally seen as important to ensure that the trust is valid at law.

From a tax perspective, the main objective of a default distribution clause, particularly for income, is to ensure that the default beneficiaries are assessed on the failed distribution, rather than the trustee being assessed at the top marginal rate.

The case of BRK (BRIS) PTY LTD v FCT (2001) 46 ATR 347 is arguably the leading example in this regard.  In this case, the default distribution clause of the relevant trust required, where there was a failure to distribute, that the trustee "divide the Fund equally among the beneficiaries named in the Schedule hereto". 

However, the clause was crafted such that the distribution did not take place until a date after the end of a tax year. 

Based on the drafting of the relevant clause, the court confirmed that while the provisions were valid from a trust law perspective, the trustee was unable to make the required distribution to the default beneficiaries until after the end of each tax year.  This, in turn meant that all undistributed income was in fact effectively accumulated for tax purposes each tax year. Therefore, all undistributed income was taxed to the trustee at the top marginal rate.

Conclusion – start by reading the deed

Given the range of significantly adverse consequences that can result where a purported trust distribution is subsequently found to be invalid, advisers should proactively invest in processes and systems to minimise the risk of such an outcome.

Invariably, best practice dictates that in every situation before preparing a resolution there should be:

1. a comprehensive review of the relevant trust deed including an analysis of every variation or resolution of a trustee or other person (such as a principal, appointor or guardian) that may impact on the interpretation of the trust document;


2.  specific review of the relevant tax legislation applicable to the amounts to be addressed by the resolution; and


3. thought applied to the exact factual scenario that the trustee is addressing, in the context of the trust deed and tax laws.

Until next week.

Tax Office views on accessing Family Court documents

As mentioned in last week’s post, in the case of Darling, the Tax Office was given access to material lodged as part of family law proceedings, to further its audit activities in relation to the husband of the marriage.

The Tax Office has now released a Decision Impact Statement in relation to its intended approach in this area.  As usual, a full copy of the document is available via the following link - http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?DocID=LIT/ICD/M34of2014/00001

In addition to providing a useful summary of the key aspects of the court decision, the Statement confirms –

1. There is an implied obligation on the Tax Office not to make use of documents disclosed as part of a family law case for a purpose not related to the family court litigation (ie to assist the Tax Office with its tax audit activities).


2. Whenever the Tax Office is wanting access to court documents for use other than in relation to the case in which the documents were filed, it will make an application to the court for release from the implied obligation.


3. In making an application to court, the Tax Office will have regard to the factors set out in the Darling decision (as summarised in last week’s post).

 Until next week.

Image credit: Adam Rifkin cc

Tax Office access to family court material

One area of the law that continues to evolve relates to the Tax Office being able to access material lodged as part of family law proceedings.  A further example of this is the case of FCT & Darling [2014] FamCAFC 59.  A full copy of the decision is available via the following link - http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FamCAFC/2014/59.html

Whereas the original decision prevented the Tax Office from accessing certain information disclosed by the husband in his family court affidavit, the Tax Office was ultimately given access to the material on appeal.

While the court acknowledged that they did not want to create an environment that discouraged those involved in family court proceedings from making full and frank disclosures, it was also the case that, given the family court had an inherent ability to refer matters of tax evasion to the Tax Office, any further access granted on a case by case basis was unlikely to have a significant impact.

The other specific reasons given by the court for allowing access included:

1 there were significant restrictions on the Tax Office in relation to the ability to use the information that they gained, particularly in relation to releasing it publicly;

2 while the husband had argued that it would be inconvenient to have the information released, there was no actual evidence supporting this argument;

3 the Tax Office was engaged in a significant and targeted audit in relation to the husband – i.e. the Tax Office was not engaged in some form of ‘fishing expedition’.

Overall, it was deemed to be in the public interest to allow the commissioner access to the material.

Next week’s post will consider the Decision Impact Statement recently released by the Tax Office.

Until next week.

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