High court

• The U.S. government has thus forced Firtash to spend the last ten years in Austria—without the ability to leave—exercising his legal right to contest extradition to a country he’s never even visited.
• Since his arrest, Firtash has twice prevailed before Austrian courts despite U.S. efforts to extradite him.
• The Austrian trial court found no basis for the U.S. allegations against Firtash, denying extradition in 2015.
• Enough is enough—the U.S. government should dismiss this case and allow Firtash the freedom it has already cost him for the last ten years.

• Australian Border Force officials are investigating the arrival of a group of more than 20 men by boat near the remote community of Beagle Bay in northern Western Australia.
• Beagle Bay is an Indigenous community about 100 kilometres north of Broome with a population of about 300 people.
• The Australian government’s policy is to send people who arrive by boat to Nauru, where it has maintained a facility.
• “Clearly there’s been a catastrophic failure in the system here because this boat has arrived undetected,” he said.

• While Labor resists calls to change Australia’s system of negative gearing and the Greens push for changes, there’s a chance change could come from somewhere else altogether – Australia’s legal system.
• As surprising as it might seem, the legal precedent that allows one million Australians to negatively gear investment properties can be challenged.

The problematic precedent

• The general deduction section allows taxpayers to deduct from assessable income any loss or outgoing to the extent that “it is incurred in gaining or producing your assessable income”.
• Where such expenses are only partly related to gaining income, the section allows that part of them be deducted, with the rest not.

How Janmor Nominees played out

• In court, the Tax Office argued that the loss shouldn’t be allowed as a deduction because the property wasn’t really rented out.
• This meant it didn’t deal with the more important question of whether negative gearing losses were incurred in gaining or producing assessable income.

Losses need to be in pursuit of income

My respectful opinion is that the judgment can’t govern negative gearing as it is usually practiced today, and for that matter, could not have governed it as it was usually practiced back in 1987. In the standard negative gearing situation, the taxpayer who incurs a rental loss after deducting rental expenses is seeking three things:
rent
capital growth for the purpose of making a profit
use of the loss to reduce other taxable income to reduce tax owed.

• The first of the three advantages (to obtain rent) satisfies the deduction test – it is connected to the pursuit of an income.
• Regardless of purpose, the courts have held that, to be deductible, expenses need to be objectively “incidental and relevant” to earning income.
• Again – objectively – interest expenses are only partly directed at obtaining rent; they are also directed at obtaining tax deductions and capital growth.

The Tax Office ought to seek a ruling

• The Tax Office would get complaints.
• The Tax Office regularly tests the boundaries of deduction provisions by bringing cases to the courts, even where political sensitivities are involved.
• It is a criticism to which the Tax Office might not have a ready answer.

Dale Boccabella does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• LONDON, Feb. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Freeline Therapeutics Holdings plc (Nasdaq: FRLN) (“Freeline”) and Syncona Ltd (“Syncona”) today announced that Freeline’s shareholders have approved the proposal for Bidco 1354 Limited (“Bidco”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Syncona Portfolio Limited (“Syncona Portfolio”), to acquire all shares of Freeline not currently owned by Syncona Portfolio for $6.50 per American Depositary Share (“ADS”) in cash (the “Acquisition”).
• The resolution was passed by the requisite majority of Freeline shareholders and was accordingly passed.
• Chris Hollowood, CEO of Syncona Investment Management Limited, said: “We are delighted our proposal to acquire Freeline has been approved by the required majority of Freeline shareholders.
• We believe the acquisition by Syncona, which will result in Freeline becoming a private company, provides the best path forward for us to do that in this current environment, and we are grateful for the overwhelming support shown by our shareholders.”