Tax & ATO Disputes · Sydney & NSW

Tax & ATO Disputes Lawyer Sydney

Under audit, hit with an amended assessment, or watching the clock run down on a director penalty notice? You get a NSW solicitor running your matter directly, with AI doing the document-heavy work so your ATO dispute moves faster and costs a fraction of a traditional firm.

  • Lawyer-led, never handed down to a junior
  • AI-assisted review of years of records in hours
  • Fixed-fee scoping wherever the work allows
NSW registered solicitor Free 30 minute consultation Fixed fees available

Book a free consultation

Tell us what the ATO has sent you. We respond the same business day.

Same business day response. Or call 0480 893 317.

Prefer to pick a time? See available consultation times

NSW registered solicitor Local, District, Supreme & Federal Courts Faster turnaround through AI-assisted workflow Fixed-fee options

Is this you?

You probably need a tax lawyer if

Accountants are the right people for compliance. Once the ATO moves from asking questions to exercising its assessment and recovery powers, you are in a legal dispute, and legal professional privilege, objection rights and statutory deadlines start to decide the outcome.

Any of these apply? A thirty minute consultation costs nothing and will tell you what your real position is. Call 0480 893 317 or request a call back.

Scope of work

What we handle

Every matter is run by a NSW registered solicitor with Federal Court experience. AI compresses the parts of the work that traditional firms bill by the hour.

01

Audits and reviews

  • Managing ATO information requests and interviews
  • Scoping what must be produced and what is privileged
  • Position paper and reasons-for-decision responses
  • Voluntary disclosures and penalty mitigation strategy
02

Challenging an assessment

  • Part IVC objections against assessments and private rulings
  • Appeals to the Administrative Review Tribunal
  • Appeals to the Federal Court of Australia
  • Remission of penalties and general interest charge
03

Debt and recovery

  • Director penalty notices, including lockdown DPNs
  • Garnishee notices served on banks, employers and debtors
  • Payment arrangements and deferral negotiations
  • Defending recovery proceedings, statutory demands and bankruptcy notices
04

Business and structuring exposure

  • Division 7A loans and deemed dividends
  • GST, PAYG withholding and superannuation guarantee shortfalls
  • Trust distributions and section 100A risk
  • Part IVA general anti-avoidance and promoter penalty exposure
Book A Consultation Call 0480 893 317

Time critical

The deadlines that decide these matters

Tax disputes are won and lost on dates. Several of these cannot be extended, and missing one can turn a company debt into a personal one.

21 days

Director penalty notice

Counted from the date on the notice, not the day you opened it. Take one of the available steps in time or you become personally liable for the company debt.

60 days

Objecting to a private ruling

Objection periods vary by assessment type and can run to two or four years. Get the correct period identified early, because a late objection needs the Commissioner to agree to consider it.

Immediate

Garnishee notice

A garnishee notice bites on your bank account or your customers straight away. Fast negotiation or challenge is the only route to releasing the funds.

60 days

Appealing a disallowed objection

Once an objection decision is disallowed there is a limited window to take the matter to the Administrative Review Tribunal or the Federal Court.

Call now on 0480 893 317

Lawyer-led, AI-assisted

Why AI matters in a tax dispute specifically

ATO disputes are document disputes. Years of bank statements, ledgers, invoices and correspondence have to be reconciled against the Commissioner position. That reconciliation is exactly what traditional firms bill hundreds of hours for.

Years of records read in hours

Our systems scan thousands of pages of statements and ledgers to build the transaction narrative, so your solicitor starts from the analysis rather than from the paperwork.

Every ATO argument tested

Rulings, determinations and case law are cross-checked at speed, so the objection answers every point in the position paper rather than only the obvious ones.

You pay for judgement

Strategy, privilege calls and negotiation with the ATO stay with a senior lawyer. The volume work does not get billed at senior rates.

Where the savings come from

Typical task times, Law Flow compared with a traditional firm

Task Other firms Law Flow Saving
Contract review 4 to 6 hrs 30 to 45 mins ~80%
Legal research 10+ hrs 2 hrs ~80%
Initial drafting 2 to 3 hrs + 30 mins or less ~75%

Law Flow runs with low staff and office overheads, using AI in place of junior employees and virtual meeting spaces instead of commercial offices. The savings are passed on to you. Figures are indicative and vary with the matter.

Want that applied to your matter?

Tell us what you are dealing with and you will get a scope and a price for the next step, not an hourly estimate.

Book A Consultation

How it works

From first call to resolution

01

Free consultation

Thirty minutes with Tristan, not an intake officer. You explain the situation, he tells you where you stand and what the deadlines are.

02

Scope and fixed price

You get a written scope and a price for the next stage before any work starts. No open-ended retainer, no surprise invoices.

03

AI-assisted groundwork

The documents, ledgers and authorities are processed at speed, then reviewed by your solicitor. This is the stage traditional firms bill hardest.

04

Lawyer-led execution

Advice, negotiation, drafting and advocacy are done by the lawyer with carriage of your file, and you deal with him directly throughout.

Cost

What this costs

Tax disputes have a reputation for open-ended bills. We scope the work in stages so you know the price of the next step before you commit to it.

Free initial consultation

Thirty minutes with the solicitor who would run your matter. No cost, no obligation.

Fixed fee where scope allows

Objections, DPN responses and remission applications are commonly quoted as a fixed fee.

Staged for litigation

Tribunal and Federal Court work is quoted stage by stage so you keep control of the spend.

Tristan Burt, Principal Solicitor at Law Flow

Your lawyer

Tristan Burt

Principal Solicitor

Tristan is the person who listens to your situation, understands your goals and builds the strategy. He is a NSW registered solicitor with years of experience from top-tier firms across Australia, Asia and Europe, and has built Law Flow’s AI systems to amplify his judgement, not replace it. He is the ultimate decision maker on your matter.

  • NSW registered solicitor
  • Local, District & Supreme Courts of NSW, and the Federal Court
  • Led one of the largest class actions in Australian legal history
  • Top-tier firm experience across Australia, Asia & Europe
  • PhD, published in leading legal journals
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Common questions

Tax & ATO Disputes: what clients ask first

Do I need a lawyer if I already have an accountant?

Often you need both, and your accountant should stay involved. A lawyer becomes necessary once the dispute turns adversarial, because legal professional privilege, objection drafting, tribunal and court appearances, and personal liability under a director penalty notice are legal questions rather than accounting ones.

Can you stop a garnishee notice?

A garnishee notice can often be reduced, released or replaced with a payment arrangement, particularly where it is strangling a trading business or where the underlying assessment is under genuine challenge. Speed matters, because the notice captures funds as they arrive.

What happens if I ignore a director penalty notice?

Nothing is stayed by ignoring it. Once the period on the notice expires the Commissioner can recover the amount from you personally, including by issuing a bankruptcy notice. Where lodgment was more than three months late the notice may be a lockdown DPN, which removes some of the options otherwise available.

Will using AI put my financial information at risk?

No. Law Flow uses AI through business grade services governed by terms under which client prompts, documents and outputs are not used to train or improve AI services. We add lawyer review, access controls, redaction tooling and restrictions on what can be submitted. Our approach follows the Law Society of NSW Statement on the Use of AI in Australian Legal Practice.

How quickly can you act?

Consultations are usually available within a business day, and urgent DPN and garnishee matters are prioritised. Tell us the date on the notice when you make contact so we can triage it correctly.

Next step

Get the ATO deadline under control

Thirty minutes with the solicitor who would run your matter. Bring the notice or assessment and you will leave the call knowing your options and the dates that apply to them.

Call 0480 893 317 Request a call back

Free 30 minute consultation · No obligation

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