Australian Tax Forum

Australian Tax Forum is a prestigious quarterly journal with the objective of providing discussion on issues in tax policy, law and reform amongst tax professionals. It is an essential reference source for understanding and contributing to the development of taxation systems worldwide. Australian Tax Forum is aimed at those who want to influence the future development of tax policy. It is an important journal for tax policy makers, academics and libraries.

Subscription pricing

  • $240 Australian subscribers
  • $265 Overseas subscribers
  • $380 Online subscribers
  • $395 Overseas online subscribers

To subscribe to The Australian Tax Forum please click here

Articles from the current issue:

  • A market-based method of determining the capital revenue boundary: The tax treatment of depreciationAdd to cart

    One of the certainties of tax is that the boundary between revenue and capital is blurred and difficult. A substantial body of case law has failed to produce clarity and precision. The authors propose a new market-based approach to identifying whether a transaction is on revenue or capital account. In this paper, the approach is applied in relation to depreciation. The authors conclude that the current system of allowing specific deductions for depreciation is unsound and should be replaced by the market-based approach which delivers outcomes that are more certain, more equitable, and more soundly based on economic principle.

  • Book review: Fiscal reform in Spain: Accomplishments and challengesAdd to cart

    This well written and extensive book is a collection of twelve papers written by different author(s). There is an introduction written by the editors and a useful “wrap-up” final section where one of the editors, Jorge Martinez-Vazquet reflects on the lessons that can be learnt from Spanish Tax Reform, making fourteen sections in total. The book covers four main areas: the political economy of tax reform in Spain, an in-depth review of various aspects of the Spanish tax system; the interaction of tax reform and the Spanish fiscal system changes over the last 30 years; and the modernisation of the tax administration system in Spain.

  • The Australian Tax Office/Tax profession partnership: Lessons from a pilot interview programAdd to cart

    The hierarchy of the Australian Tax Office (ATO) presents a picture of the ATO being in a partnership with the tax profession. It is suggested that the relationship is, or should be, one of co-operation with the aim to maximize voluntary compliance with the tax system by taxpayers. This model is in contrast to the traditional adversarial model and questions arise as to whether such a relationship is workable. The partnership model presents ethical conflicts, the possibility of regulatory capture and issues of transparency. In any event, it is not clear whether the rhetoric of the ATO hierarchy is, in fact, implemented in practice. To test whether a partnership style relationship does exist between the ATO and the profession, the limits of the relationship and how it might be improved, the views of the profession and employees within the ATO need to be considered. With the prospect of an extended interview program a pilot program was conducted interviewing a sample of the profession. The experiences in conducting these interviews are instructive for establishing a methodology for any wider program. Furthermore, the observations of the, admittedly small and arguably unrepresentative, sample provided some evidence that the implementation of the partnership model remains problematic. In particular, observations were made to suggest that current structures within the ATO may inhibit the organisation’s ability to embrace, at all levels, a partnership style approach. Also, it might be that the profession does not share the same view as to its obligations within the partnership as does the ATO.

  • Global SME tax policy conundrumAdd to cart

    There is a real mystery surrounding why so much time seems to be spent by governments around the world on providing small businesses with tax concessions, without seemingly fully understanding, or properly explaining, to their constituents how such tax initiatives fit within their wider tax policy framework. This article examines Australia’s small to medium sized enterprises (SME) tax policy vis-à-vis those of other developed countries, and concludes that Australia has never really had a formal, well defined, articulated tax policy on how it deals with small businesses vis-à-vis small to medium sized businesses and larger businesses. In Australia, this lack of policy direction has resulted in tax initiatives in the SME sector being introduced in an ad hoc and reactive fashion, and has contributed to policy makers failing to properly identify and target relevant tax concessions in this sector. Interestingly, it is concluded that Australia is not alone and that other governments around the world have also struggled to come to grips with setting appropriate tax policies in relation to SMEs with political expediency and bandaid solutions being the only two real constants in the quest for SME tax policy direction.