Current Practice

Rhys Penning is a director in the Melbourne office of Greenwoods & Freehills Pty Limited.

After spending five years with a large international chartered accounting firm specialising in indirect taxes such as Wholesale Sales Tax and Goods and Services Tax, Rhys joined a national law firm and was admitted to Practice in Victoria in 2002.

Rhys has published a number of articles in professional journals, including two recent articles on the GST issues facing financial supply providers in the context of input tax credit entitlements. Specific Area of Expertise:
• Taxation: Goods and Services Tax

Industry Experience

Rhys has advised clients in a wide range of industries with a particular focus on the challenging areas of the application of GST to property transactions and the financial services sector in addition to general commercial and mergers and acquisitions transactions.

That work has ranged from the legal identification of liabilities and entitlements to the compliance and systems issues those liabilities and entitlements give rise to. His experience includes:

classification of the GST treatment of a range of transactions and financial products as well as structuring transactions to meet specific GST requirements such as the going concern concession;

identifying the GST issues arising from complex transactions including property developments, finance based acquisitions and transactions, including extensive exposure to cross-border issues;

identifying the extent to which entities, particularly financial supply providers and participants in property transactions, are entitled to recover GST input tax credits (including under the Reduced Input Tax Credit regime) in respect of costs incurred to make those supplies;

legal drafting and negotiations in relation to enhancing any advantages or mitigating any disadvantages arising from the above issues; and

dealing with the Australian Taxation Office (eg by way of application for private rulings or audit and other reviews) in relation to these issues.

Professional Background

Rhys holds a combined Bachelor of Law and Economics from the University of Tasmania and a Master of Laws from the University of Melbourne. Rhys is a member of the Taxation Institute of Australia.