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Melbourne Tax Summit

Date: 30 September 2025

In early September Jason and Karina spent 3 days attending the Tax Institute’s annual Tax Summit in Melbourne.

Karina had worked in Jason’s team at R+M until about 2014, before she transferred to work in R+M’s legal team. So a fair amount of time in Melbourne was spent reminiscing about the good old days… But they also spent a lot of time learning, attending many interesting sessions over the 3 days with highlights including:
• Trusts and intergenerational change
• What’s on the ATO radar for SMEs
• Dealing with loans and UPEs in estate planning
• Navigating the maze of losses
• Deep dive on ATO application of 109T
• CGT rollovers
• Shaping SMSF strategies

They heard from ATO Commissioner Rob Heferen, who focused on the ATO’s approach to improving payment performance and debt collection, as well as latest tax gap estimates.

Rob Heferen noted that the latest published tax gap estimate was released in October 2024, and relates to the 2021–22 year. For that year, they estimated a net gap of 7.5%, or $44.5 billion. The largest 2 tax gaps relate to the income tax of small businesses (including individuals carrying on a business) and individuals. These 2 gaps alone account for more than 60% of the total $44.5 billion.

They also heard from Productivity Commission Chris Richardson, who discussed the reasoning behind the proposed 5% ‘cashflow tax’ and reduced 20% corporate tax rate for companies with revenue under $1b. This proposal was presented to Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ economic reform roundtable held in late August 2025, with industry consultation now having concluded 15th September 2025.

The keynote speaker at the closing lunch was Cameron Schwab, former CEO of Richmond & Freemantle Football Clubs. Cameron spoke about what tax professionals and businesses can learn from elite team sport. His key message was that ‘leadership is not about being perfect, it’s about being real’.

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