The Year That Was – VT Advisory 2021

The team at VT has faced some massive challenges this year, as have our clients, families and all those we love. Having said this, we believe in celebrating our wins so that our burdens are put in the appropriate context. There will however be no further mention of the Lord of the Rings quiz that Bill subjected the team to as the horrors were just too great…

The Top 5 Wins (In No Particular Order)

1. Identification of withholding tax issues arising within a Double Tax Agreement in respect of the broad definition of royalty. Consideration of Big 4 Transfer Pricing department’s contrary advice in detail on this point. Re-affirm VT position and terminate the client engagement rather than accept incorrect Big 4 position. Subsequently find out that on termination of client relationship Big 4 adopted VT Advisory position as they discovered the deficiencies in their own advice. This win was one of integrity.
2. Step into complex deceased estate and complete compliance to crystalise ATO liabilities and successfully obtain remission of secondary penalties and interest (exceeding $700k). Move into a trusted advisor relationship with client and assist them with managing property heavy wealth portfolio. This win is one of empathy and care.
3. External advisor looking at tax structure holding intellectual property assets. Provide strategic advice to create flexibility in investor movement while quarantine risks associated with assets and business. This win is one of technical ability.?
4. Lead advisor for vendor in respect of due diligence with an ASX listed purchaser for high 7 figure sale price. Prior to transaction assist vendor to restructure in order to protect shareholders from risk. Subsequently appointed by ASX listed purchaser as their advisor given business knowledge and demonstrated capability. Provide detailed tax advice to seller to maximise after tax return of sale. This included close collaboration with legal advisors to assist them to provide bespoke legal solution. This win is one of fearless advocacy.
5. Providing CFO and tax advisory services to secure capital injection of funds at mid-8 figure valuation. This included pre-deal engagements to provide detailed forecasting and valuation models, input into information memorandum and pitch deck. Post-deal presentation of financial information and ASIC agent requirements. This was after providing heightened tax support to bring a group of 15+ entities from 3 years in arrears up to date and negotiate payment arrangements with the ATO. This win is one of trust.

Our Other Wins

1. Robust CGT and GST advice on sale of shares and business for pre-deal after tax analysis.
2. Assist with the acquisition of land with reference to income tax and GST advice to run a new business in the context of succession planning and tax specific structural advice.
3. Providing tax advice to assist with the setup of more than 10 new entities for growth in 2022 and beyond.
4. The provision of services to assist growing client establish SMSFs and acquire commercial property in further evolution of their business. This client also benefited from advice at the personal level to assist them in refinance of their property portfolio to achieve optimal return on investment by pushing down ultimate cost through differentiation of investment versus personal debt for tax purposes.
5. Act as tax advisor assisting legal practitioner in respect of State Tax investigation. Subsequently assist the client in the sale of a generational asset including tax effective distribution of profit and the ultimate disbursement of funds to families.
6. Both VT directors have been appointed to the Boards of separate non-profit charities. This involved participation in strategy and risk mitigation workshops including lead input into funding for both quarters of 2022.
7. Acting as tax advisor in respect of the sale of shares subject to Big 4 tax rollover advice of a global organisation. Instrumental in communicating tax benefit in non-commercial loans within group to aid other advisors and directors in their understanding of the deal leading to successful sale.
8. Setting up a multi-day business planning session and assisting to structure facilitating shareholder/director ambitions into a meaningful plan that they can measure success against. This has led to an ongoing and growing business.
9. Assisting clients in communicating with their financial planners for the establishment of SMSFs and acquisition of a commercial property.
10. The finalisation of legacy issues and clients respectfully and with empathy. Assisting other parties understand that the values of VT are not for everyone and that this is ok.
11. Providing advice and guidance in relation to government grants – including accelerated commercialisation funding for multiple clients. This being used to fund start up development and provide capital for growth.
12. Patent Box paper seen online by 1000’s of people (possibly 10’s of thousands – Tom needs to check the stats!). This was the first team submission with client endorsements and gained some great traction and provided assistance to the client ecosystem and regulators in thinking strategically about capital allocation on a globally competitive tax landscape.
13. Submissions in relation to Client Legal Privilege and Accountants to the ATO. This included a state of play of this principle at common law and evolutionary pathways to give context to policy and legislative intervention. The submission included the need to consider how the ATO communicates with legal practitioners and whether the online portal used for tax agents can provide any learnings to make this process more streamlined.
14. Supporting a growing ecosystem of professional service providers through referral and networking. The philosophy of VT Advisory makes it clear that clients need services they can trust and not all of those can be provided by the firm. In order to achieve client excellence we have professional service partners that work with our clients collaboratively with a shared aim of unlocking value for the client.

2022 and Beyond

The next year will see yet more change and development from the team. Some anticipated highlights being:

1. Bill to graduate from his Juris Doctor! See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2O7Cz1azfk
2. Bonnie getting involved with TRAM! (This actually starts on Thursday)
3. AC Grants – Only 48 businesses have received the AC Grant in the past calendar year. Despite a relatively small exposure to start ups, VT Advisory currently have three businesses that have made it to the second round and will tender full applications in 2022. VT Advisory lives the ideal of trust. We trust our clients with terms to help them achieve milestones that result in them moving to fully fledged businesses.
4. The number of clients charged in excess of $100K in fees means changes to the firm’s insurance and risk profile. This is often coupled with board level appointments and independence risk reviews to ensure the clients are geared to grow and the firm is protected.
5. Move further into mid-market and large corporate. Through strategic partners the ability to form relationships and scale up solutions and automation for market segments that have historically been served with a lag in technology development due to their heightened risk profile.
6. An emphasis on developing junior staff through client acquisition training and mentorship as well as technical ability. Developing tailored roadmap to invest in our people and empower them to live their successes. To be humble and give everyone room to grow.

Our Proudest Moments by Meme

Aside from another year of professional accolades, I wanted to address the often overlooked efforts in meme engagement. To run through the above wins, Tom went through every invoice that VT raised this year. Somewhat unsurprisingly, there were more memes than invoices to review (the correct balance).

Here’s the top ones (Bill has removed the most offensive ones - in no particular order)!

My Proudest Moments – Bonnie

What a year on a personal and professional front, by our count for Bonnie who:

1. Graduated CA
2. Bought a home
3. Put up with countless TV and movie recommendations

When looking at the wins above, she was not only directly involved but played a key role more than half of them (Side note: updated her resume because she has some potent projects to add onto it that show just how amazing she is)!

We sat down just over a year ago with a plan for splitting out our compliance base over a two year period whereby we’d slowly increase Bonnie’s involvement over our more complex compliance engagements. We’ll sit down before Xmas to review this again but it is clear she has blown the plan to bits! Our clients have naturally gravitated towards Bonnie and within her first year, there’s no compliance file too complex for her.

I’m really proud to call you a colleague but even prouder to call you our friend ??

Conclusion

Whilst there’s been some things we’d all rather forget this year, there’s no doubt been some wins above no one would soon forget.

Keep up the great work team!?

PS. With great strength Tom has avoided jinxing us for 2022 by adding a Training Day meme with Denzel saying “Omicron ain’t got nothing on me” – Thank me this time next year ??

PPS. Bill was the only one upset that an Omicron meme with Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White was not created…