Contents

Preface

Taxation of business entities becomes difficult when students try to learn each rule as an isolated section number. A company, trust, partnership, sole trader and superannuation fund may conduct economically similar activities, yet the legislation asks different questions about who derives the income, who owns the asset, who receives the benefit, who may deduct the expenditure and how value ultimately moves to the owners.

This book therefore begins with a different premise: understand the commercial story first, then find the law that answers it. The student must be able to identify the taxpayer, the entity, the transaction, the time at which the transaction occurs and the economic consequence. Only then should the student move to the Act, Division, section, authority and calculation.

The book is intended to function like a professor or tutor beside the reader. It explains not simply that a section applies, but why Parliament needed the section, what factual problem triggers it, what each statutory limb requires, what an authority contributes, what evidence is missing and how the result changes when one fact changes.

How to use this book

Read the narrative first. Do not jump immediately to the questions. The chapter narrative gives you the conceptual structure. Then use the issue checklist to practise spotting legal problems. After that, attempt the chapter questions without opening the answer page.

The lawyer's method