PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY

Frank Egan is the Managing Director of LAC Lawyers and has over 29 years experience as a lawyer. Frank heads up our taxation group and specialises in both onshore and offshore taxation arrangements including tax havens. He does not deal with any indirect taxation matters e.g. land tax, stamp duty or payroll tax. He is available to advise clients whether corporate or private on large, serious or complicated matters.

Most legal problems arise because clients fail to take proper legal advice at an early stage. Matters only worsen when clients act unadvised or seek advice from other professionals. Eventually the matter balloons out of control and the costs associated with it explode. At LAC Lawyers we encourage clients to consult us early to achieve a better outcome by avoiding many of the traps and pitfalls associated with this.

Matters in which Frank has been involved include taxation advice on a wide range of tax matters including serious non-compliance and the use of tax havens; regular liaison with the ATO on tax fraud, tax avoidance, tax evasion, Wickenby-type matters, various taxation arrangements, voluntary disclosure, taxation negotiations, penalties and interest, taxation offences, failure to lodge returns whether business or personal, structuring, criminal prosecutions and referrals to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) across all Commonwealth taxes.

Currently all areas of the law are undergoing great structural change which brings with it substantial uncertainty and tremendous confusion for clients. At LAC Lawyers we help our clients by making sense of the law through advice which is timely, easily understood and which outlines various courses of action open to them irrespective of the nature of the matter.

One of the areas undergoing the greatest structural change is taxation. Obviously governments all over the world are feeling the pressure of the global financial crisis. As a result they need to maximise taxation recoveries to allow their treasuries to meet their ongoing financial obligations. This has led to the government paying far greater attention to taxation causing the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and other revenue authorities to focus on many taxation arrangements to ascertain whether they fall within legitimate taxation planning principals or whether they amount to taxation exploitation schemes and are therefore non-compliant.

Unfortunately for many they have entered into schemes or arrangements which involve either payments, loans or debt forgiveness relying on offshore structures and concealment for their efficacy which are nothing more than rude, crude frauds. Tax is always complicated but is made more so where taxpayers rely on artificial devices, methodologies and/or structures to minimise tax.

Where tax planning is a sham or a fraud or of non legal effect and contrivances are relied upon to minimise tax they are fraught with danger and expose taxpayers to the harshest possible treatment including imprisonment if they do not seek proper advice to assist them to mitigate the consequences of their actions. All of our clients require independence and confidentiality as they are normally high-net worth individuals who wish to be kept out of the public eye.

Many taxpayers maintain that because they relied upon their accountant and/or financial planner they have a layer of protection which will assist to insulate them from the harshness of tax non-compliance. There is absolutely no substance to this point of view as the liability arising from the tax shortfall belongs to the taxpayer and not the adviser. Where the taxpayer has been poorly advised their remedy lies against their adviser but this does little to stifle the mountain of debt including penalties and interest to satisfy the tax shortfall. 

Where a taxpayer believes their taxation affairs are tax-non-compliant they need to retain a tax lawyer to obtain expert advice and assistance and the benefit of legal professional privilege. The accountant’s concession will not protect the taxpayer from due search and enquiry by the Tax Office where fraud or evasion is detected. All records, documents and working papers are available to the Tax Office or the AFP whether by warrant, subpoena or discovery in these circumstances.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Laws
• Diploma in Industrial Law & Labour Relations
• Fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia

Memberships

• Taxation Institute of Australia
• Law Council of Australia - Business Law Section
• Law Society of NSW

Admitted to

• All NSW AND Victorian State Courts.
• All Federal Courts including High Court of Australia

Registered to Practice in

• NSW
• Victoria