https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-little-cfo-legal

The Little CFO Legal, Level 19, 10 Eagle Street, Brisbane City (2026)

22/04/2026

Reminders for

1️⃣Quarterly super contributions are ending:

- From 1 July starts.

- Employers must pay super each payday.

- How to prepare: ato.gov.au/paydaysuper.

2️⃣On 1 July 2026 the ATO’s Small Business Super Clearing House will close. Employers using should:

- Pay your third quarter payment on time ;

- Download your records;

- Find an alternative provider.

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Are your clients facing ATO disputes?

We provide our referral partners with complimentary Discovery Sessions.

Find out more and lock in a time that suits you here:

calendly.com/tlc-legal

21/04/2026

Online services for agents, family trust election ( ) and interposed entity election ( ) report now provides more information from elections lodged with the ATO -

For FTEs you can now see:

🔸the date the ATO received the election
🔸the form type – election made (E), variation (V), or revocation (R)
🔸for revocations, the election end year and election end date.

This is in addition to the existing FTE details:

🔹income year specified
🔹election commencement date
🔹specified individual
🔹date of birth.

For IEEs you can now see:

🔸the date the ATO received the election
🔸the form type – election made (E) or revocation (R)
🔸for revocations – the election end year.

This is in addition to the existing IEE details:

🔹income year specified
🔹election commencement date
🔹tax file numbers of family trusts
🔹income year specified in the related FTE
🔹individual specified in the related FTE.

This provides you with more details of the elections your clients have lodged with the ATO, including a clearer picture of when an election was lodged.

🚩The ATO has advised that, in providing this information, it makes no opinion that all the necessary requirements for making a valid FTE or IEE have been complied with.

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If your client is facing an ATO review, audit, or dispute, get in touch today.

Book a free Discovery Session with us:

https://calendly.com/tlc-legal

Always seek advice specific to your circumstances directly from your appointed professional advisor.

31/03/2026

This was a fantastic day out for a great cause! A big thank you to Sean Dendle at Cymax Pty Ltd for the invitation.

It was a pleasure to be involved in the inaugural TIACS Charity Golf Day this month, and it was great to see it turn out to be an incredible success.

The day raised approximately $25,000 to support TIACS' important mental health counselling services - A fantastic outcome for a first‑time event and real a testament to the community that rallied behind it.

Well done to the organisers and sponsors. I look forward to seeing this event grow and provide more support to in the years ahead.

P.s. Congratulations to our team taking out 2nd in the golf comp 🏆 and thank you all for plenty of laughs along the way!

Sean Dendle Brendan Hay Peter O'Brien The Little CFO Legal®

18/02/2026

⛳ of ⛳ We had a fantastic evening teeing off our 2026 golf networking series in Brisbane! Congratulations to our Longest Drive winners:

Magdalen Cirson
- ScotPac Business Finance

Robert Moore
- Invigor8 Accountants & Advisors

A huge thank you to our friends at Drummond Golf for the great prizes!

🔸 About our *Masters Of Tax Debt* networking series🔸

We host this event for experienced professionals who work with businesses facing financial pressure and ATO debt - such as accountants, lawyers, brokers, and restructuring specialists. Guests include principals, directors, and key decision makers at Brisbane’s professional advisory firms.

We hold open discussions about what’s shifting, what we’re seeing on the ground, and what it all means for client strategy as we head into the new financial year.

A round of team indoor golf then follows on the state-of-the-art simulators - Zero golf experience necessary! Throughout the afternoon there is informal networking, with complimentary drinks and food provided.

Our guests create new connections and gain insights into the best approach when assisting clients with ATO tax debts, audit/reviews, disclosure of business tax debts, DPNs, & tax disputes.

🔸 About the Hosts🔸

This series provides accounting and financial advisors with the opportunity to gain insights on topical tax matters concerning their clients, with the benefit of hosts' expertise, including:

🔷 The Little CFO Legal® - Legal advice & representation for ATO tax disputes;

🔷SV Partners - Advice for businesses & individuals facing financial distress & insolvency;

🔷Tax Assure - Specialist tax debt services for undisputed tax debts;

🔷 APICKLE - Empowering small businesses by refinancing multiple bad debts: Expert debt negotiation services to turn insolvency into opportunity.

🔸Interested in attending future events with us? 🔸

If you are a leader of a professional advisory firm in the legal, accounting or financial industry, we invite you to sign up for future event updates:

https://lnkd.in/gZ4ziQDe

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16/01/2026

The updated guidance on 13 Jan 2026 following industry consultation: https://www.tpb.gov.au/breach-reporting-obligations .

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Questions or concern with your compliance? Want to improve operations?

Join our principal, Tessa Fisher, in a free Discovery Session designed exclusively for :

https://calendly.com/tlc-legal/accountants-compliance-operations

15/01/2026

- Don’t be left behind: in the last year we’ve seen a surge of firms seeking advice to strengthen their compliance and operations, amplified by the TPB’s heightened scrutiny of tax practitioners.

Join our principal, Tessa Fisher, in a free Discovery Session designed exclusively for accountants:

https://calendly.com/tlc-legal/accountants-compliance-operations

Firms are seeking our help to address:
🔸 TASA changes.
🔸 Imminent AML/KYC changes.
🔸 Safeguarding and quality controls ahead of firm growth.
🔸 Compliance ahead of business exit/sale/merger.
🔸 Operational pain-points and strategy formulation.
🔸 AI use by clients and practices.

Key concerns raised:

🔺 Operations: Firms are facing day‑to‑day productivity pain points not being addressed, inefficiencies, lack of growth, limited staff operations and compliance training (including AI use), and undefined business goals.

🔺Compliance: APES, TASA, AI use/reliance (by firm and clients), and imminent AML/KYC requirements; lack of compliance review and related planning.

🔺 In particular, accounting practices are requesting reviews of Client Engagement Letters T&Cs, both to better safeguard their business (beyond general compliance) and to also meet compliance requirements when selling their business in future.

🔺 Firms are also seeking tailored updates to Onboarding, Policies & Procedures to prepare for growth, to allow for better alignment with their unique operation style, and to ensure they are remaining compliant.

Why these concerns? Why now?

🔹 Some accountants are approaching retirement and intend to exit/sell their firms. Others are planning to sell or merge and want a strong foundation before doing so. Well‑drafted terms, polices, procedures, etc are critical for a smooth transition and to avoid compliance issues mid-transaction.

🔹 Firms of all sizes are facing heightened scrutiny by TPB & professional bodies.

🔹 The stock standard ‘templates’ (such as engagement letters, manuals) often fail to properly protect the business or support a sale.

Risks & gaps include, for example:

🔸 Firms being caught unprepared when compliance and operational demands evolve.
🔸 Loss of business value due to compliance and operational gaps.
🔸 Failure to secure their clients and fees.
🔸 Firms relying on unvaried “templates” compliance documents and terms of service face a real risk of serious compliance issues rising during future sale transaction.

ℹ️ If you also have concerns about compliance and operations, we can help.

Join our principal, Tessa Fisher, in a free Discovery Session designed exclusively for accountants:

https://calendly.com/tlc-legal/accountants-compliance-operations

With our tailored approach, you can improve and enhance compliance and operations for your accounting practice.

15/01/2026

TA 2026/1 issued today details ATO concerns about certain related-party property development arrangements involving long-term construction contracts that artificially defer recognition of income.

The ATO is not concerned with the use of property development agreements (PDAs) operating model in general. The ATO are concerned with certain situations where related parties, structure PDAs in an artificial or contrived manner to obtain a tax benefit. Under these arrangements there is:

🔸an interposed developer entity to artificially separate the land ownership and development activities;

🔸repeated deferral of income recognition;

🔸the accumulation of project losses that are used in the economic group to obtain the tax benefit.

The ATO considers the exploitation of losses in these arrangements can result in the economic group perpetually deferring paying tax on group profits, and enable wealth extraction.

In short - The economic group gains a competitive advantage by intentionally doing the wrong thing.

Read the full taxpayer alert, TA 2026/1 'Contrived property development arrangements between related parties that defer recognition of income and exploit tax losses' here:

https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?DocID=TPA/TA20261/NAT/ATO/00001&PiT=99991231235958

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Concerns about your tax affairs? Book a free Discovery Session with us:

https://calendly.com/tlc-legal

17/12/2025

New decision: organisation with incidental or ancillary purposes.

🟡 APPLICATION BACKGROUND

An established organisation applied to the ACNC for charity registration.

Its governing document stated its objects, which concerned operating a religious congregation and undertaking ministry in the community.

In its application form, the organisation said it undertook various activities including conducting religious worship services, religious fellowship and discussions, and providing pastoral care.

🟡 ACTIVITY SCRUTINISED

One aspect of the application raised a potential concern:

🔹A weekly morning catch up for women in the local community to have morning tea and do crafts together.

This raised a potential concern because the purposes of social interaction or recreation are generally not recognised as charitable purposes.

In its application form, the organisation said:
- the activity was open to all women in the local area;
- it provided diverse ways for the organisation to connect with the community to share its religious beliefs.

🟡 INCIDENTAL OR ANCILLARY PURPOSES

The ACNC considered:

🔹Purposes that are incidental or ancillary, and in furtherance or in aid of, charitable purposes are purposes that are not of substance on their own, but which tend to assist or naturally go with the charitable purpose.

In this case, it was not clear whether the crafting activity was engaged in such a way that it indicated that the organisation had a separate, stand-alone social or recreational purpose. But even if it did, the ACNC decided that the purpose would be incidental or ancillary to, and in furtherance or in aid of, the organisation’s charitable purpose of advancing religion.

🟡 OUTCOME

The ACNC accepted that an organisation had no independent, non-charitable purposes and the ACNC registered it as a charity with the charity subtype of advancing religion.

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Source: ACNC - deidentified registration decisions, December 2025.
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Book a free Discovery Session with us about your new charity or NFP: https://calendly.com/tlc-legal

15/12/2025

- Don’t be left behind: This year we’ve seen a surge of firms seeking advice to strengthen their compliance and operations, amplified by the ’s heightened scrutiny of tax practitioners.

Firms are seeking our help to address:
🔸 TASA changes.
🔸 Imminent AML/KYC changes.
🔸 Safeguarding and quality controls ahead of firm growth.
🔸 Compliance ahead of business exit/sale/merger.
🔸 Operational pain-points and strategy formulation.
🔸 AI use by clients and practices.

Key concerns raised:

🔺 Operations: Firms are facing day‑to‑day productivity pain points not being addressed, inefficiencies, lack of growth, limited staff operations and compliance training (including AI use), and undefined business goals.

🔺Compliance: APES, TASA, AI use/reliance (by firm and clients), and imminent AML/KYC requirements; lack of compliance review and related planning.

🔺 In particular, accounting practices are requesting reviews of Client Engagement Letters T&Cs, both to better safeguard their business (beyond general compliance) and to also meet compliance requirements when selling their business in future.

🔺 Firms are also seeking tailored updates to Onboarding, Policies & Procedures to prepare for growth, to allow for better alignment with their unique operation style, and to ensure they are remaining compliant.

Why these concerns? Why now?

🔹 Some accountants are approaching retirement and intend to exit/sell their firms. Others are planning to sell or merge and want a strong foundation before doing so. Well‑drafted terms, polices, procedures, etc are critical for a smooth transition and to avoid compliance issues mid-transaction.

🔹 Firms of all sizes are facing heightened scrutiny by TPB & professional bodies.

🔹 The stock standard ‘templates’ (such as engagement letters, manuals) often fail to properly protect the business or support a sale.

Risks & gaps include, for example:

🔸 Firms being caught unprepared when compliance and operational demands evolve.

🔸 Loss of business value due to compliance and operational gaps.

🔸 Failure to secure their clients and fees.

🔸 Firms relying on unvaried “templates” compliance documents and terms of service face a real risk of serious compliance issues rising during future sale transaction.

ℹ️ If you also have concerns about compliance and operations, we can help.

Join our principal solicitor in a free Discovery Session designed exclusively for accountants:

https://calendly.com/tlc-legal/accountants-compliance-operations

With our tailored approach, you can improve and enhance compliance and operations for your accounting practice.

15/12/2025

ATO has stepped up pursuit of unpaid :

The ATO has revealed that $1.1 billion in unpaid super was returned to nearly one million employees’ funds in 2024–25. This outcome reflects an intensified compliance campaign.

The ATO raised almost $800 million in Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) liabilities, through:

🔸15,000 audit cases completed;
🔸120,000 reminders to employers;
🔸70,000+ prompts to employers.

The ATO applied over $200 million in penalties against employers. The ATO considers that these penalties should act as a warning to employers that:

🔸 paying correct super entitlements on time is not optional; and
🔸the ATO will take action to protect employees.

🔷What ATO debt action are employers facing?

Employers who fail to meet their obligations are facing stronger enforcement.

In the past year alone, the ATO took over 20,000 firmer actions, including , and legal proceedings.

🔷What is expected going forward?

With improved access to Single Touch Payroll and fund data, and the upcoming introduction of Payday Super, detection of non‑compliance will be faster and more decisive.

🔷What are the key takeaways for employers?

🔸Paying super correctly, and on time, is critical. This is not an optional 'pay later' business expense.

🔸Employers under ATO scrutiny risk significant financial and reputational consequences if obligations are not met.

🔸Company directors can face personal liability for their employees' unpaid super.

🔷Where to next for concerned employers?

If your business is facing ATO action or wants to strengthen its compliance framework, seek advice now before problems escalate.

We guide businesses through tax and super obligations and advise in responding to ATO inquiries and scrutiny during review/audit. We encourage business owners to reach out early on to avoid costly mistakes.

Book a free Discovery Session with us to discuss your matter: https://calendly.com/tlc-legal

The Little CFO Legal

22/04/2026

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31/03/2026

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