Mathew works in the Perth International Tax and Transaction Services group at EY, specialising in international tax. He has more than 26 years’ experience, focusing on the large multinational and corporate environments across Australia, the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa. Mathew is very involved with The Tax Institute’s Perth office, a long-time member of The Tax Institute, and a regular presenter at national and state conventions on a variety of international tax issues.
We asked him what he is most looking forward to at The Tax Summit.
“Obviously, the ability to see some of Australia's best tax speakers,” he begins.
“The ability to network and connect to old and new friends and people from other firms.
“Some of the non-tax technical sessions as well, I think, are always valuable to give us a broader commercial point of view on issues and developments.”
Mathew’s Session – Session 12.2: Capital vs Revenue revisited
There have been significant recent developments in the ATO’s approach to the capital versus revenue distinction, a core concept in Australian tax law. Mathew’s session will recap the history and core concept and then focus on these recent developments.
“It's one of those tax 101 issues that we all think we know, but most of our learning and most of our education on it is probably years out of date because we all did it so early on in our careers,” he explains.
“I’ll set up my session to be very much a revisiting of that core distinction in the context of recent developments coming out of case law and the ATO.”
Law is changing
We asked Mathew about the challenges in his space that are currently facing tax practitioners.
“A massive and continuous rate of change in the law in the international tax space, together with social pressures and social license to operate pressures around being a good corporate citizen,” he says.
“For practitioners who are members of The Tax Institute, who may not eat, live, and breathe international tax, and that's the vast majority of them, I think it's really an awareness exercise.”
“This is where The Tax Summit is crucial, so that delegates can work with their clients to at least recognise or identify the issues, not necessarily resolve them, but add significant value by identifying that there may be an issue.
“And then also then identifying who's going to be the right person to help them out with it.”
Why you should attend The Tax Summit 2020
Mathew says that attending CPD events like The Tax Summit will help practitioners to increase value to their clients by building their technical knowledge, and their networks.
“You've got to stay up to date and up to speed,” he advises.
“Get exposure to a range of issues and a range of technical developments and recent developments to keep current.
“It's physically impossible for any single practitioner to be across everything. You just can't do it. It's too complex. It's too specialised, too demanding.
“Be the best tax advisor you can be, you need the ability to have some coverage outside your core competencies. Again, not necessarily to solve the issues, but at least to identify the issues.”
Networking opportunities
Mathew believes that networking at The Tax Summit will benefit individuals as well as the tax profession as a whole.
“The future of tax will see a group of people with a specialisation, and then a residual ability to identify and deal and resolve issues that are outside of our sphere of expertise,” he says.
“The ability to build up networks and relationships to help fill those gaps is a crucial part of it.”
“You can't do what we do without having the ability to make meaningful relationships and interactions with people.”
Mathew says that in order to be a leader within your practice and amongst your clients; to be that trusted adviser – interpersonal ability is so important.
His message for Heads of Tax
Mathew says with eight streams, there is something for everyone at The Tax Summit.
“The ability to mix and match across each of those different streams is most comprehensive, most broad stream offering I've ever seen,” he admits.
“That alone, means that if you send a team of people, you can actually send people off to different presentations and then they can come back together.
“Teams can take that learning back to their practice and then, well to their office.”
The Tax Institute is combining two flagship events (National Convention and The NSW Tax Forum) into what will become the most significant tax program for tax and accounting professionals in the region.
This event is one members and non-members alike won’t want to miss. This is ground zero for our profession; the central point from which everything else revolves around.
There will be more than 60 sessions delivered by local and global tax experts, across SME, Corporate and Hot Topic streams. The Tax Summit also includes keynote sessions and four new streams: Professional Practice, Emerging Leaders, International and Technology.
Not to mention National Convention’s hugely popular networking events, the Welcome Reception, and Gala Dinner featuring The Tax Adviser of the Year Awards.
