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Craig Gibson

Partner

,

Melbourne

Craig has a wide breadth of expertise in the areas of taxation, corporate governance, structuring and regulatory compliance, with particular focus on the property development and not-for-profit industries. Craig acts for international and domestic listed and unlisted developers and property managers, independent schools and other large not-for-profits, and family groups.

Craig’s clients benefit from his substantial client and industry knowledge, helping them mitigate regulatory risks unique to their industries and understand end-to-end taxation and structuring considerations for their projects.

Craig is renowned for providing complex legal and strategic advice in a practical manner, steering clients through challenging projects and problems, and dealing with tax and charity regulators with a solution focused (rather than combative first) mentality.

  • +61 408 528 700
  • +61 3 9605 0019

Memberships, Accreditation and Activities

  • Chair of the Victorian State Taxes Committee of the Tax Institute
  • Member of the Charity Law Association of Australian and New Zealand.

Expertise

Craig’s expertise includes:

  • Advising on (and disputing) property related taxes for not-for-profits, developers and broader property owners, including Stamp Duty, Land Tax, Windfall Gains Tax, GST, Council rates and levies, and Income Tax and Capital gains
  • Assisting charities and other not-for-profits structure their organisations or specific projects (in particular, projects involving land), and to seek available tax exemptions, endorsements and refunds, including charity registration, deductible gift recipient endorsement, GST concessions and applicable State and Territory exemptions (including land tax, stamp duty, Council rates and payroll tax exemptions)
  • Assisting developers and landowners design and implement appropriate development project or land acquisition structures, including end-to-end project tax considerations
  • Advising schools and other not-for-profits on their industry specific regulatory considerations (including ‘not-for-profit’ requirements attached to school registration and funding), and assisting with regulatory investigations conducted by the ACNC, ATO, VRQA and other relevant regulators
  • Providing trust, asset protection and structuring / restructure advice to high-net worth families.

Recent Matters

  • Provided strategic advice to an ASX listed client that saw it achieve significant land tax reductions and refunds, including identifying an ability to seek retrospective contribution by tenants that had a significant impact on the client’s portfolio valuation prior to a merger
  • Assisted an ASX listed client successfully contest the validity of a supplementary valuation received following the client’s publicly reported acquisition of a building in the Melbourne CBD, saving close to a million dollars in otherwise payable council and fire service levy rates
  • Assisted three public benevolent institutions form a joint venture and establish a national charity focused on increasing understanding and reducing the harm of child sexual abuse, funded by a significant grant from the Australian Government. The matter involved complex structuring advice (including tweaking of Government funding arrangements to achieve necessary tax endorsement goals), and the seeking of income tax and deductible gift recipient endorsement.

Memberships, Accreditation & Activities

  • Chair of the Victorian State Taxes Committee of the Tax Institute
  • Member of the Charity Law Association of Australian and New Zealand.