A recent decision of the Full Federal Court gives liquidators comfort that they are not required to set money aside to meet the future tax obligations of a company until those obligations have been assessed by the Tax Office. Although liquidators must retain money 'sufficient to pay tax which is or will become due', this obligation only applies to tax liabilities that have been assessed and are presently payable or payable in the future, not to liabilities that might be created by future assessments.

The Treasury has released a draft Bill (the Insolvency Law Reform Bill 2014) that comprises a package of proposals to amend and streamline the Bankruptcy Act 1966 and the Corporations Act 2001. Treasury has stated that the proposed amendments will:

A recent decision of the Federal Court of Australia demonstrates the importance of professional insolvency service providers reviewing their work processes to ensure efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and of being diligent in the recording and claiming of costs.

In the news this week:

A recent Federal Court decision has confirmed that liquidators of a corporate trustee are entitled to be remunerated out of the trust assets for costs incurred in monitoring and investigating claims made against the trust.

A recent decision has clarified that receivers are entitled to be indemnified and have a lien for their costs in dealing with goods even where the goods belong to third parties.

ASIC has just published its annual overview of corporate insolvencies based on statutory reports lodged by external administrators for the 2013-14 financial year.

In brief: Vietnam's new Law on Bankruptcy will take effect from 1 January 2015, bringing in a number of changes, including a new definition of 'bankruptcy'. Partner Robert Fish (view CV)and Junior Associates Giang Quang Nguyen and Linh Nguyen look at the most significant features of the new law and note what will differ from the current regime.