Steven Tanner, our Manager in the Brisbane office, was recently awarded Dux of CTA2A Advanced for Study Period 3 2023. A fantastic result in an advanced tax course, congratulations Steven! We asked him a few questions to reflect on his achievement and provide some insight into his success…
What did you learn in the subject that has been most valuable?
It is a three-way tie between the taxation of trusts, CGT rollovers and Small Business CGT concessions. All of these are vital to my day-to-day knowledge in serving the needs of our clients. In my experience, the taxation of trusts would have to be one of the most misunderstood areas in practice. CGT rollovers and Small Business CGT concessions are both highly technical and very important when it comes to client’s undertaking tax effective restructures for expansion, succession planning or selling their business.
What did you gain by undertaking the subject?
I would say the section on CGT rollovers really helped me to develop a stronger understanding of this area in the tax law. We often undertake group restructures for various commercial reasons and tax can often impediment progress if not well understood. Division 122-124, Division 615, 328-G and demergers are all vital areas that have greatly added to my skillset. Just last week I was involved in restructuring a client from a trading trust to a company, I was also recently involved in “top-hatting” a corporate group to help attract investors for capital expansion. CGT rollovers as well as access to Small Business CGT concessions were all analysed and considered as part of this work.
What do you attribute your success in the subject to?
Aside from the obvious of having a well-planned schedule, my approach to learning has always been to understand the fundamentals of what the concepts are trying to achieve and the reason for its existence. Keeping it simple and always falling back to asking “why?” helps me when I get stuck. Don’t treat education as a box-ticking exercise, approach your learning and education as an opportunity to build your skillset to better serve your clients and pass on knowledge to your colleagues, particularly juniors.
