INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE IN PRO BONO TAX CLINICS: A CASE STUDY APPROACH

ANN KAYIS-KUMAR, GORDON MACKENZIE AND MICHAEL WALPOLE

Abstract

As one of the initial universities in the Federal Government’s National Tax Clinic Pilot Program, the University of New South Wales (‘UNSW’) Tax Clinic provides free, independent and confidential tax advice and support to financially vulnerable individuals and small businesses across New South Wales (‘NSW’).

One of the greatest challenges in establishing a free tax clinic is in ensuring that only those who are genuinely in need have access to the service. Further, tax law is a unique area of law whereby access to the transfer system (that is, welfare benefits) is often predicated on the requirement for individuals to be up-to-date with their tax affairs. This itself presents an additional barrier in access to justice.

So, by adopting an interprofessional collaborative approach, UNSW Tax Clinic offers vulnerable taxpayers – who meet criteria that are both transparent and nuanced – the ability to obtain free tax advice and support.

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2019 national tax clinic project: melbourne law school tax clinic

SUNITA JOGARAJAN, KATE FISCHER-DOHERTY AND JULIAN PANETTA

Abstract

In 2019, Melbourne Law School (‘MLS’) ran a tax clinic for vulnerable taxpayers under the Federal Government’s National Tax Clinic trial. The trial was administered by the Australian Taxation Office. This paper discusses the experience of setting up and running the MLS Tax Clinic in 2019. The paper covers the clinic design, the activities undertaken by the clinic (advice, representation, education, and advocacy), and the observations and reflections of those involved – clients, tax practitioners, academics, and students. The paper concludes by making several recommendations in relation to legal and administrative reform to improve the tax experience for vulnerable taxpayers.

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2019 National Tax Clinic Project: James Cook University TAX CLINIC

VAN LE AND TINA HOYER

James Cook University (JCU) embraced the opportunity to establish and operate a Tax Clinic under the National Tax Clinic Program. As the only regional university to take up the challenge, JCU aimed to deliver a valuable service to the North and Far North Queensland community, provide work experience and work integrated learning for JCU taxation law students, as well as pro bono opportunities for local tax practitioners. The JCU Tax Clinic (the Clinic) was successfully launched and became operational by July 2019. Since becoming operational, the Clinic has assisted many North and Far North Queensland individuals and small businesses and has been described as an absolute godsend.1 This article sets out what occurred in 2019 during the operation of the Clinic and specifically:

• provides an outline of the design model of the Clinic, and details the involvement of the Clinic staff, students, industry and the Clinics clients;
• sets out some key observations of the Clinic experience in terms of key challenges and learnings from the operation of the Clinic; and
• outlines the future plans for the Clinic.

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