In April this year the NSW Court of Appeal unanimously agreed that a commercial lawyer was negligent in failing to advise on the tax consequences of a proposed buy-back: Ralston v Jurisich [2017] NSWCA 63. In brief Mrs Jurisich was the holder of pre-CGT shar...

The Story So Far In the last three months, we have seen a significant number of changes in the skilled migration landscape, leaving many potential visa applicants (and temporary visa holders wishing to transition to permanent residency) perplexed. In an ea...

From 1 July 2017, pensions need to be supported by no more than $1.6 million of assets and tax changes would encourage almost all transition to retirement pensions to cease. The measure will require accurate commutation documents prepared prior to the event...

On 18 April 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the staged abolition of the Subclass 457 visa under the rhetoric of "Australia first". The changes came with very little warning. Some have said that the changes are cosmetic and will have little i...

Last month, I suggested in a post that there was a possibility that the window for lodging a Subclass 187 RSMS visa may be closing shortly for nominations by Perth employers. I had written this in response to reports that Mark McGowan, if elected Premier, wou...

Public Interest Criterion 4020 (“PIC 4020”) acts as a strong disincentive to visa applicants thinking of providing misleading information or bogus documents in relation to a visa application.  The provisions are unforgiving and the consequences of failing...