Through the last twelve months, there has been continued publicity about the tax reform conversation with, mostly, an appetite for utilising existing tax frameworks to deliver fiscal outcomes. The international alignment with OECD BEPS framework continues to drive tax changes in the international arena combined with a refocus on traditional tax planning and the breadth of existing frameworks to ensure the desired outcome. What is old is new again as policy makers, regulators, advisers and clients walk the tightrope, balancing increased social, corporate and economic pressures with demand for growth.
The 2023 organising committee was excited to welcome Jennie Granger, UNSW Business School to open the Queensland Tax Forum, exploring the role of tax as a balancer in the budgets and the place for tax reform in the current economic environment when balanced with other global, social and economic issues. They were excited to bring The Great Tax Reform Debate back, with the esteemed Paul Mills leading and challenging our panel comprising colleagues from legal, tax and regulator roles, on the approach and progress of tax reform. Dr Graeme Cooper will also take us through a deep dive into the tax planning realm with a technical session on some of the anti avoidance provisions available to be called upon or be aware of in planning.
There were focussed technical and practical insights across both the SME and Corporate streams, helping you and your clients to walk the tightrope of balance. For the SME stream, we focus on preserving and generating wealth whilst managing the tax budget balancer, including sessions across Division 7A, Section 100A, small business CGT concessions to name a few. In the corporate stream, looking at the role of tax balanced with social and economic perspectives with sessions looking at the impact of old and new tax measures through a lens of dealing with a housing crisis, demands of capital management and ongoing workforce management challenges. We also welcomed back a Heads of Tax session to explore the inhouse tax function of the future.