Meet the Tax Controversy Partners team

We're all about teamwork

We have a core team of experienced tax professionals, who will help assess your situation and the help that you need. Our core team can also access our unique network of retired senior practitioners as needed to provide the right expertise to deal with your issues.

Founder & Principal Solicitor

In May 2021, Bruce set up the boutique tax law firm Tax Controversy Partners Pty Limited, specialising in assisting individuals, small businesses and private groups.

Bruce worked for over 35 years in the Tax Office, a third of this time as a Senior Executive in what is now Client Engagement Group. While with the ATO, Bruce worked as a technical and strategic leader covering its legislative, interpretative, private advice, public advice, compliance, audit, investigative, prosecution, objection, dispute resolution and litigation functions.

After he left the ATO in 2017, in addition to running a small business advisory firm, Bruce worked in private practice for a couple of years as a legal contractor and an employee solicitor before deciding to start this firm.

Bruce has an Accounting Certificate (1989), a First-Class Honours Degree in Law (1995), a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (1996), a Masters of Taxation (2003) and a Masters of International Taxation (2006). He also holds a practicing certificate as a legal practitioner in NSW and is a Chartered Tax Advisor with the Tax Institute.

Bruce has advised on a wide range of tax issues, including:

Tax residency for individuals, entities and self-managed superannuation funds
Source of income for international transactions of various kinds
Treatment of overseas bequests and gifts to Australian individuals
Operation of Australia’s double tax agreements affecting Australian tax laws
Controlled foreign company and transferor trusts for Australian residents
Deemed dividend rules, including under Division 7ACapital Gains Tax, including individual and entity concessions and rollovers
Design and implementation of employee share schemes
Status of the worker issues for contractors and employees
Personal service entities and income
Taxation of property development projects and joint venture agreements
Interactions of the tax system with estate planning considerations
Structuring options for various small businesses and private groups
General and specific anti-avoidance rules
Promoter penalty rules
Access and information-gathering powers for the ATO and other agencies
Tax Agent Services Act matters for tax practitioners
Debt collection processes with the ATO, State Revenue Offices and other agencies
Objection, review and appeal processes contesting ATO and State Revenue decisions
Corporate governance on tax and superannuation obligations for private groupsState duties and taxes

Outside of work, Bruce enjoys splitting his time between his family and his loves of books, television, film and tabletop gaming.

Senior Associate Lawyer

Amanda has over five years’ experience in providing taxation advice to a variety of clients, including individuals and small businesses.

Amanda has worked at an accounting firm followed by another boutique tax law firm where she continued to develop her taxation skills.

Amanda joined Tax Controversy Partners Pty Limited after working with Bruce at her previous law firm.Amanda holds a Juris Doctor (2019) and undergraduate degrees in Commerce and Psychology (2016). Amanda holds a current practicing certificate in NSW. Amanda is also a Chartered Tax Advisor.

Amanda’s key interest lies in superannuation. She developed a strong understanding of the complex superannuation rules, administration of SMSFS and providing advice on common issues/transaction to members of SMSFs through her previous experience. With her accounting background, Amanda has experience in preparing and understanding financial reports and tax returns, which assists in providing practical taxation advice.

Amanda has experience providing advice on the following tax areas:

Determining whether the personal services income regime applied to individual and business circumstances
Determining treatment of capital or revenue transactions
Tax residency advice for individuals and self-managed superannuation funds
Advice on eligibility for small business
CGT concessions both pre- and post- transactions,
Advice on state duties and taxes, specifically stamp duty and payroll tax
Advising on implications of family trust elections and interposed entity elections
Structuring advice for new and existing ventures
Taxation of certain SMSF transactions, with consideration of in-house assets and meeting the sole purpose test
Negotiating payment plans with the ATO
Preparing objections to assessments and private binding rulings
Preparing voluntary disclosures for non-reported income and deductions
Preparation of submissions for AAT and Federal Court proceedings Advising tax agents on inquiries by the Tax Practioner’s Board and representing them during investigations

Outside of work, Amanda is a passionate volunteer, focusing on disadvantaged and vulnerable youth groups and years of experience as a community netball coach. Amanda is known for working on multiple craft projects at a time and is looking forward expanding her crafting skills.

Lynn is our Practice Manager, and keeps our administrative and business functions turning over. Lynn is a retired teacher, experienced in both secondary and adult education. As well, she served as a public servant in education, training and information management.

On top of having helped Bruce to run a small business advisory firm since 2017, Lynn also worked in a law firm as a research and administrative officer for a couple of years.

In addition to her teaching qualifications, Lynn has a BA with split majors in English and sociology, including criminology, as well as further studies in information management. This helps to keep our operating philosophy sound and our communication style effective.

Using his long-established professional relationships, Bruce has recruited a range of retired practitioners who held senior roles at the ATO and in private practices who have agreed to work as contractors for Tax Controversy Partners, on an ‘as-needed’ basis.

The capabilities covered by these contractors include nationally recognised specialists in:

Superannuation, including for self-managed superannuation funds
Individual taxation issues
Small business taxation issues
Wealthy individual and private group taxation issues
Taxation of international transactions, including transfer pricing
Controlled foreign company and transferor trusts for Australian residents
Deemed dividend rules, including under Division 7A
Capital Gains Tax, including individual and entity concessions and rollovers
ATO review and audit processes
ATO access and information gathering powers
Objection, review and appeal processes
ATO debt collection powers and processes
Private group tax and superannuation corporate governance

Meet the Tax Controversy Partners team

We're all about teamwork

Meet the team

Bruce Collins

Amanda Guruge

Lynn Collins

Our contractors