Current Practice

Rhys Penning is the Director responsible for Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the Melbourne office of Greenwoods & Freehills Pty Ltd (G&F).

Rhys has specialised in GST since its inception in 2000 and previously advised on corporate income tax and wholesale sales tax matters. Prior to joining G&F, Rhys worked in the tax practices of an international chartered accounting firm and two national law firms.

While Rhys advises on a wide range of GST matters, including property transactions, his key areas of focus are mergers and acquisitions, infrastructure, asset finance and other ‘financial supplies’ and cross-border dealings.

Rhys has written for a wide range of publications and regularly presents on GST matters to the profession and industry.

Rhys actively participates in industry lobbying on GST matters and has been an attendee at a number of Australian Taxation Office (ATO) GST National Tax Liaison Group meetings.

Industry Experience

Rhys advises clients in practically all industry segments, including:

• banking and finance;
• infrastructure and construction;
• property development;
• retirement villages; and
• energy and resources.

That work has ranged from the GST aspects of day-to-day commercial operations to large scale and one-off transactions and includes:

• the GST technical classification of transactions to ascertain the legal obligations and entitlements of the parties;
• consideration of the applicability and appropriateness of specialist GST Act provisions and concessions such as the GST-free supply of a going concern in mergers and acquisitions transactions or the margin scheme in a property development;
• identifying and mitigating the GST and administrative issues arising from those legal obligations and entitlements, with particular attention paid to the management of cash-flow issues and risk exposure;
• identifying and documenting the extent to which entities, especially those in the banking and finance sectors and those undertaking M&A activities, are entitled to claim input tax credits (or reduced input tax credits) in respect of costs incurred in undertaking their transactions;
• legal drafting and commercial negotiation to enhance any GST advantages (or mitigate any disadvantages) from the above issues; and
• dealing with the ATO in relation to these issues, including the preparation of requests for private rulings and the facilitation of discussions arising from audits or compliance reviews and subsequent entitlements or obligations.

Professional Background

Rhys holds a Bachelor of Law and Economics degree from the University of Tasmania and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Melbourne.

Rhys is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor in the Supreme Court of Victoria and the High Court of Australia.

Rhys is a Fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia and is an active participant in the Property Council of Australia’s GST subcommittee.