Cross-border and international

Australia’s inconsistent tax and insolvency laws

Recent research has revealed that although the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) lost its priority in insolvencies in 1993, and was ...

The proportion of insolvency practitioners who are women

Around the time of International Women’s Day and more generally there is often discussion about the low proportion of women ...

New UK Insolvency Code of Ethics

A new version of the Insolvency Code of Ethics will apply from 1 May 2020 to all insolvency practitioners in ...

A regulator’s report on insolvency practitioner remuneration

Australia’s bankruptcy trustees receive an average of $4,800 in administering each estate, with 63% of estates paying no remuneration at ...

Protected: AFSA’s report on remuneration

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AFSA’s report on insolvency practitioner remuneration

AFSA has produced a report on insolvency practitioner remuneration – Registered Trustee Remuneration in the Personal Insolvency System – Best ...

Obligations to whistleblow

Journalists and accountants among others are obliged by NSW law to ‘whistleblow’ – to report to the police – if ...

The proposed reinvigoration of the UK’s business rescue culture through ‘recalibration of the balance of power’ – some steps too far for Australia?

A recent academic article from the UK has reviewed proposed restructuring reforms announced by the government in August 2018, although ...

Three liquidators for three intertwined companies

A Judge appointed individual liquidators to three separate companies – OT, AGM and Ozifin – rather than a common liquidator ...

ASIC’s initial claim of illegal phoenix activity by a liquidator now the subject of a 160 page statement of claim

This post is further updated on 26 February 2021 to reflect that ASIC filed its statement of claim against Mr ...

Winding up a foreign company – Blumenthal’s Tipsy Cake

Tipsy Cake was wound up on 12 February 2020, having had provisional liquidators appointed on 20 December 2019, who then ...

Too much independence? a re-issue of my 2016 commentary

My analysis below of the law of insolvency practitioner independence, written in October 2016, is reissued in February 2020 in ...

A not so simple fix for franchise insolvency?

The financial collapse of a franchisor can have a severe impact on its franchisees but a “simple fix” proposed to ...

Disclosure of business tax debts to credit agencies

Law allowing the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to disclose tax debt information of businesses – corporate and personal, over AU$100,ooo ...

What has happened to the proposed beneficial ownership of shares register?

A review of the ASIC Annual Report 2018 by a parliamentary committee was tabled only in February 2020. The report ...

Cross-border insolvency hearing between Australia and New Zealand

The Federal Court of Australia requested the High Court of New Zealand to help it jointly hear applications on 18 ...

A review of Australia’s insolvency practitioner regulation system

Given a choice between a good insolvency law and poor practitioners, and good practitioners and a poor insolvency law, the ...

The new law’s limitations in controlling phoenix misconduct

The new anti-phoenix laws, so welcomed in certain quarters, will come up against some business and personal behaviours that are ...

Independence of debtors’ chosen liquidators

If directors apply to the court have their company wound up in insolvency, or in fact support an application for ...

Three year ‘imprisonment’ for bankruptcy debt

Australia has historically been seen as severe in its approach to unpaid debt and opposition to changing the 3 year ...

Does insolvent trading work? The UK may not think so.

In the context of the review of the safe harbour provisions in Australia, there have been recent articles on insolvent ...

A deferred tax debt can remain due and payable

If a company owing a debt enters into an agreed payment arrangement with the creditor, that can serve to defer ...

Don’t be too harsh on non-compliant directors of failed companies?

The laws regulating the conduct of directors of companies in liquidation and laws regulating persons who go bankrupt exist in ...

Million pound fines for breach of insolvency standards

The million pound fining of an insolvency firm and its administrators by the English accounting body ICAEW illustrates the differences ...