{"id":8581,"date":"2022-05-16T08:05:06","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T00:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/free-tax-advice-fills-community-gap\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T12:41:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T04:41:20","slug":"free-tax-advice-fills-community-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/free-tax-advice-fills-community-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"Free tax advice fills community gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tax. It\u2019s one of those words that either makes you shudder, duck for cover, or simply disengage. But Curtin Tax Clinic<\/a> and its tax education specialist director Annette Morgan are working to change perceptions about this most unavoidable of public obligations.<\/p>\n

Together, they are tackling it in meaningful ways, helping people in situations of disadvantage to address outstanding tax issues, while also taking the tax crusade into schools to help young people understand how the system works and shatter preconceptions about tax being boring or something to avoid.<\/p>\n

According to Morgan, the key to the clinic\u2019s success<\/a> is its practical approach where eligible people can receive competent, free tax advice from student volunteers under the supervision of lecturers who are experienced tax professionals. This gives the students valuable real-world experience while filling a community need.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about education \u2013 for our students, school students and people in the community,\u201d Morgan says. \u201cThe clinic gives our students an opportunity to put what they are learning into practice, to have some purpose behind what they do here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Annette Morgan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Curtin Tax Clinic was the first of its kind in Australia<\/a>, set up as a trial in 2018 under the leadership of Morgan, a Curtin lecturer and deputy discipline head for taxation, and her colleague Donovan Castelyn, the clinic\u2019s supervisor.<\/p>\n

A year later, with the advocacy of Morgan and others, the Federal Government agreed to fund tax clinics at Curtin and nine other universities across the country.<\/p>\n

Morgan says the clinics filled a gap by helping those who had disengaged from the tax system for a variety of reasons, including family disruption, homelessness, disability and language barriers. Some of the clinic\u2019s clients had not lodged a tax return for decades or had tax obligations they were struggling to meet.<\/p>\n

These issues were especially acute with people in prison. Morgan says the clinic started providing support for recently released prisoners to help them resolve issues around tax returns, child support and superannuation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took away a lot of the stress from them. They have enough to deal with when they come out,\u201d Morgan says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we found a lot of them were actually due a tax refund. That was like a godsend for them, some money to give them a better start on the outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom this we thought, why wait until they come out? So, we started looking at ways to offer help while they were still in the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prison program has helped about 200 people across eight institutions, filing more than 650 tax returns, achieving penalty remissions totalling more than $23,000 and tax returns in excess of $240,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t look at the person we are working with as a prisoner,\u201d Morgan says. \u201cFor whatever reason they have disengaged from the tax system. We see them as a person who requires our help. We don\u2019t judge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denis\u2019s story is a good example of the value of the Curtin clinic\u2019s prison program. After Denis was released from Karnet Prison<\/a>, the clinic helped him complete and submit several outstanding tax returns, which resulted in a refund of more than $4,000.<\/p>\n

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Denis at the Curtin Tax Clinic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With clinic advice, he was also able to roll several superannuation accounts into a single account and complete a super early access withdrawal of $32,000 to buy a car. Denis says he is grateful for the clinic\u2019s help and thrilled with the financial outcome.<\/p>\n

Morgan says the prisons program is an opportunity for Curtin students to engage with issues in the \u201creal world\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students can see they are helping make a difference to people,\u201d she says. \u201cOne day when they are working in a big firm, we hope they will remember the value of pro bono work and the opportunities that come with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Encouraging young people to engage with the subject of tax is a whole different challenge, but Morgan says the clinic\u2019s first foray into schools has been a success. In 2021 the clinic launched a program at Hammond Park Secondary College in Perth\u2019s southern suburbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith younger kids in year 8 we approached it in the form of a game, but with older kids by year 11 or 12, they often already have a job and are thinking about the issues so they\u2019re ready to engage,\u201d Morgan says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe help them get a tax file number, link their accounts to MyGov. It\u2019s very interactive and practical, and is focused on giving students the tools to handle tax issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinancial literacy should be seen as part of learning life skills, to prepare them for the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted plans to expand to other schools but Morgan hopes the program will be back on track in the second half of 2022.<\/p>\n

Curtin graduate Gavin Ying is grateful for the opportunities volunteering at the tax clinic gave him, including insights into the challenges people face dealing with tax problems, especially those in the prison system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could tell that some prisoners were very worried about their tax issues … having support and assistance from the clinic is a big relief for them,\u201d Ying says.<\/p>\n

He says the approach in schools is more about sharing information in a light-hearted format rather than formal education, which helps make it interesting and engaging for students.<\/p>\n

Ying completed his Master of Taxation and Tax Law<\/a> last year and is now an associate with PriceWaterhouseCoopers\u2019 corporate and global division.<\/p>\n

Morgan says the tax clinic doesn\u2019t take away work from commercial tax advisers because it focuses on the unrepresented. According to research by the University of New South Wales in 2020 there could be as many as 840,000 people across the country unable to access independent tax advice for various reasons.<\/p>\n

While Morgan got the inspiration for the tax clinic from the low-income tax clinics she saw in the US on a 2017 study tour, she is now helping spread the word to other parts of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now an international network. We\u2019ve helped the UK and Ireland to set up similar clinics using our model,\u201d she says.<\/code><\/p>\n

And while this outreach work is going on, Morgan and her team continue to advocate for change to tax policy through the government and tax office to make the system fairer and more accessible for everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Curtin Tax Clinic and its tax education specialist director Annette Morgan are working to change perceptions about this most unavoidable public obligation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":8582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,3,111],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-8581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-innovation-and-law","category-campus-and-global-community","category-global-curtin"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"Bachelor of Commerce (Taxation)","qualification":"Bachelor degree","link":"https:\/\/study.curtin.edu.au\/offering\/course-ug-taxation-major-bcom--mjru-taxtn","description":"The Taxation major provides in-depth understanding of taxation laws and practice in Australia and overseas. You\u2019ll specialise in areas such as income tax, goods and services tax, fringe benefits tax, international tax, tax administration, tax implications of tax structures and state taxes. You can join the Curtin Tax Clinic as a volunteer or through an internship unit.","faculty":"Curtin Business School"},{"title":"Master of Taxation","qualification":"Master degree","link":"https:\/\/study.curtin.edu.au\/offering\/course-pg-master-of-taxation--mc-taxat\/","description":"In this course you\u2019ll analyse taxation principles in depth, and gain specialised knowledge in Australian and international taxation, superannuation and retirement planning. You\u2019ll develop a solid understanding of capital gains tax, trusts, Goods and Services Tax and indirect taxes, estate planning, advanced taxation, international tax and other contemporary taxation topics.","faculty":"Curtin Business School"}],"credits":{"author":{"title":"Craig McKeough","url":"#","target":""},"photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}},"post_components":false},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Open-Day-photo1-1-1000x500.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Anita","last_name":"Shore","display_name":"Anita Shore"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 21:49:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8581"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=8581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}