How investors present evidence to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and how they explain them is critical to how the AAT looks at a case, according to SMH Lawyers partner David Hughes.
Addressing the SMSF Professionals' Association of Australia conference, Hughes quoted a case in which an investor's superannuation payment was delayed in a superannuation clearing house and made its way into the investor super fund at a later date, thereby being subject to a extremely high tax assessment.
If the evidence provided to the AAT had been presented differently, the result of the case may have been different, Hughes said.
Many of the cases that come before the AAT are the result of investors' ignorance, Hughes said.
Investors needed to get advice first, and that was a missing factor in a lot of these AAT cases.
Getting the evidence right without good financial advice and good legal advice was very difficult, he said.
The way evidence is presented is paramount and can win or lose a case with the AAT, Hughes added.
