Mr
Michael D' Ascenzo
Commissioner for Taxation
Michael D’Ascenzo took up his role as Commissioner of Taxation on 1
January 2006.
When Michael D’Ascenzo joined the Tax Office in 1977, he was captured
by the exciting work associated with challenging the tax avoidance schemes
of the late 1970s and early 1980s, particularly trust stripping and ‘bottom
of the harbour’ schemes.
In 1985 he was asked to head up their recoupment tax area and in 1986 was
put in charge of international operations, becoming involved in the world’s
first advanced pricing agreement. He then introduced the large case program,
auditing Australia’s top 100 companies.
Michael led the improvements to the self-assessment system introduced in
1992, which were described by Parliament as making the tax system fairer and
more certain. By 1993 Michael had national responsibility for our audit group
(with more than 5,000 staff).
From 1994, as Deputy Chief Tax Counsel and then Chief Tax Counsel, Michael
worked to raise the standard of our tax technical decision making and lists
this work as one of his career highlights. In 1997, Michael worked on assignment
with the International Monetary Fund, advising the Sultanate of Oman on its
tax system and administration.
Prior to his appointment as Commissioner, Michael held the position of Second
Commissioner (Law) and Chief Tax Counsel having an ongoing overall focus on
the interpretation of tax law and the implementation of new tax laws, as well
as corporate planning, finance and governance. He chaired a number of internal
committees and was involved in numerous other high level Tax Office and external
forums, including the National Tax Liaison Group and the Tax Office/Treasury
Tax Policy Coordination Committee. He also had responsibility for the Australian
Valuation Office.
Michael is also involved in the work of the Study Group on Asian Tax Administration
and Research (SGATAR) and held the role of Secretary General of SGATAR for
2005.
Michael has Bachelors of both Economics and Law from the Australian National
University and is admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court
of the ACT. Michael is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School Program
for Management Development.
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Dr
Jesper Barenfeld
Doctor of Laws, Tax Policy Advisor at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise
Dr Jesper Barenfeld is a tax policy advisor in the area of international
tax law, specialising in EU-law, at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.
He also holds the following positions:
- Member/secretary of the UNICE Fiscal Affairs Group (Brussels)
- Member/secretary of the UNICE Task Force on a Common Consolidate Corporate
Tax Base (CCCTB)
- Member of the OECD/BIAC tax group (Paris)
- Member of the ICC tax group (Paris)
Publications
- Taxation of Cross-Border Partnerships, no. 9 IBFD Doctoral series (2005)
- Utdelningsbeskattning i ljuset av EG-rätten - två holländska
rättsfall (Svensk Skattetidning 10/2005)
- Marks & Spencer - rätten till gränsöverskridande resultatutjämning
inom EU (Svensk Skattetidning 1/2006)
- Avräkning av utländsk skatt - efterlängtade lagändringar
(SkatteNytt, June 2005)
- Skatteavtalet mellan Sverige och Österrike - frågan om retroaktiv
tillämåning (SkatteNytt, December 2006)
Professor
Daniel Deak
Professor, Corvinus University of Budapest
Professor Deak is a full professor at the Corvinus University of Budapest,
Faculty of Business Administration, and Head of the Department of Economic
Management, Financial and Fiscal Law. He teaches and researches in the area
of comparative and international business law and taxation. For more than
two decades Dr Deak has published extensively in Hungarian and internationally
recognized professional periodicals. He is also frequently invited to speak
at conferences or seminars in Hungary and abroad. Since 1998 Dr Deak has
been the president of the Hungarian national branch of the International
Fiscal Association. He is also invited by Hungarian or European public agencies
-- including the Hungarian Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Justice, and
TAXUD and the Internal Market DG of the European Commission -- to provide
expert opinion, while being expected to promote Hungarian and Community
legislation.
The Hon. Justice Richards Edmonds
Justice Richard Edmonds was appointed as a Judge of the Federal Court of
Australia in May 2005. From 1974 to 1985, his Honour practised as a partner
in the firm then known as Allen Allen & Hemsley (now Allens Arthur Robinson)
specialising in revenue law. His Honour was called to the NSW Bar in 1985
and took silk in 1995. At the Bar his Honour continued to specialise in
revenue law and appeared in a number of leading cases – Richard
Walter; Prestige Motors; ANZ Savings Bank; Metal Manufacturers; Consolidated
Press; Hart; Firth; Cooke – to mention a few of the more recent.
His Honour serves on a number of the Court’s panels, including the
taxation panel, and expects to continue to be involved in the development
of tax law through his docket of cases and the regular sittings of the Full
Court. His Honour has a particular interest in the Australian taxation of
international operations and the construction and application of Australia’s
general anti-avoidance provisions – Part IVA and Division 13 of Part
III.
Dr
Michael Lang
Professor, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.
Michael Lang has been Head of Department of Austrian and International
Tax Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration
since 1998. He studied Economics at Vienna University and also studied at
Miami University in Ohio. In 1990 he obtained his doctorate from Vienna
University, on the topic ‘Hybrid Forms of Financing in International
Tax Law’. He has been teaching since 1988, both at the University
of Lintz, Austria and the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.
In 2000/2001 he was Visiting Professor at the Université Paris I
(Sorbonne) and in 2003 was the Visiting Professor at the Université
Paris I (Sorbonne). In 2005 he was the Hauser Global Law Visiting Professor
at the New York University (NYU) School of Law. In 2004 he was awarded the
Senator-Wilhelm-Wilfling Award (honouring academic achievements).
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