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''I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.''
-Kurt Vonnegut
The head of the Australian Taxation Office has won a court case against his employer to access secret documents that he will use to fight a defamation battle against a former tax agent.
Commissioner of Taxation Chris Jordan sought the documents to defend the claim brought by Vanda Gould, whose registration to practice was terminated after he was excoriated in a Federal Court judgment for "disgraceful" conduct.
The judgment assists Tax Office Commissioner Chris Jordan in his defamation battle.
Photo: Paul Jeffers
Mr Gould brought a defamation case against Mr Jordan over remarks the Commissioner made at the National Press Club in 2017 about Project Wickenby, the Tax Office's offshore tax avoidance probe that led to the pursuit of celebrities such as Paul Hogan.
At the club, Mr Jordan gave the example of "this Hua Wang Bank case" as among those tackled by the project.
"It involved one promoter with over $350 million we’ve collected," Mr Jordan said. "They formed this Samoan bank and did all these transactions to hide profits. And you have the principal of that scheme appearing before the House of Reps committee on tax disputes, giving evidence and being cited, saying how difficult and awful ...
A long-running legal battle between Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan and once-high-profile Sydney accountant Vanda Gould continues, with the Federal Court granting Mr Jordan access to confidential information about Mr Gould and his associates.
Key points:
Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan has been granted access by the Federal Court to protected taxpayer information
The information relates to former Sydney accountant Vanda Gould, who has mounted defamation proceedings against Mr Jordan
The documents Mr Jordan is seeking for his defamation defence include audit material about Mr Gould and his associates
Protected information could be disclosed for defamation
proceedings
The Federal Court has confirmed that protected information the ATO held
relating to the affairs of a taxpayer may be disclosed by a taxation officer for
the purpose of the defamation proceedings the taxpayer commenced against the
Commissioner.
The court found that such a disclosure would be in the performance of the
taxation officer's duties, by reason that the disclosure would be for the
purpose of civil proceedings related to a taxation law.
FC of T v Second Commissioner of Taxation& Anor
2019 ATC 20-712, [2019] FCA 1602, White J, 27 September 2019.
