Uber’s tax tangle
Uber’s payroll tax dispute with NSW is the first real test of tax laws for digital platforms, and it could have broad implications for any company that uses contractors.
Uber’s payroll tax spat with the New South Wales Commissioner of State Revenue is shaping up as a key legal test for the digital age, with far-reaching consequences for companies that use contractors in a wide range of sectors from ridesharing to healthcare.
When hearings wrapped up on Friday, Supreme Court of New South Wales Judge David Hammerschlag said the case had left him with an “uncomfortable feeling”. That’s not because of its outsized significance — a fair match for a judge known as “The Hammer” — but because he had concerns about the way lawyers had argued it.
Hammerschlag offered the lawyers an opportunity to request further oral submissions, but at of the time of writing no such request has been made.
As we await Hammerschlag’s decision, which will likely land in the last week of August, lawyers speaking with Capital Brief say the matter sets an important precedent. It also pits Uber — a litigious defender of its business model — against a tax authority unafraid to test measures that protect a significant source of state revenue.
