Neil Wickenden is an experienced and well qualified taxation professional. Neil joined HLB Mann Judd in 1979, his technical ability and commercial practicality proven by his admission to partnership in 1982.
An astute and well-rounded professional, Neil has over many years established a strong reputation with clients and peers for his work in a number of areas including:
- business structures and restructuring for both publicly listed and privately owned organisations and, in particular, working closely with groups to design and implement structures that optimise commercial and taxation outcomes
- business transactions and agreements, where he has a proven ability to simultaneously assist purchasers and vendors in designing and implementing terms that meet each party’s commercial and taxation objectives
- authoring tax expert’s reports for prospectuses and other documents typically issued under the fundraising provisions of the Corporations Act
- advising on and managing transitional arrangements for corporations entering into tax consolidation
- assisting corporations with international tax compliance matters such as transfer pricing and thin capitalisation, including associated regulatory documentation
- advising high net worth individuals and family groups on the establishment and management of trusts as a tax effective means of asset protection and estate planning.
Neil’s talents were demonstrated during a lengthy and complex task recently completed. This involved the initial sale of a closely held insurance services group into a joint management buyout and private equity structure; and the subsequent exit sale of a substantial part of the business to a listed corporation.
Neil advised parties to the transactions at several levels. His advice included matters relating to corporate structuring, tax consolidation, personal income tax and capital gains tax, and resulting tax issues for private trusts. With the various parties to the transactions having differing commercial objectives and the sums of consideration involved being significant, Neil was able to deliver practical and commercially effective outcomes for all and assist in ensuring the transactions’ successful conclusions.
Neil’s technical strengths and personable approach are well known. He has prepared expert tax reports for prospectuses, acted as an expert witness on taxation issues for litigation purposes, acted as an executor to deceased estates, and has been appointed a financial manager by the Office of the Protective Commissioner in New South Wales. He has also represented clients on revenue matters before the (federal) Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal.
Neil’s views are widely sought by industry. He currently sits on the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners’ NSW branch committee.
Tax Consulting
Business structures and restructuring
Business acquisition and divestment
Property development and transfers
Tax consolidation
International taxation
Trusts and estates
Expert reports and expert witness