Christie Di Zio

Unilever Australasia is the Australian and South East Asian operations of Unilever PLC. Unliever PLC is a British Multinational Fast-moving consumer goods company founded in 1929. Listed on the UK and Netherlands Stock Exchange. Its Head Office is in London. Uniliver Australasia's annual turnover is approx. $1.1bn and employs over 1,600 people in Australasia.

Reporting to the Head of Tax Unilever Australasia, the role included;

• Review and preparation of detailed tax advice to address various proposed current group restructure and transactions, including preparation of a detailed reasonably arguable position paper on the transfer of goodwill associated with brands.
• Review and preparation of detailed tax advice to document various prior group restructures and transactions.
• Assist with providing information to the ATO in relation to Advanced Pricing Arrangement applications.
• Assist in various ATO audits and enquires.

BBC Worlwide Ltd was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of BBC, a Bristish public service broadcaster headquartered in London. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming. The group recently acquired 100% of the shares in Lonely Planet group in 2011.

• Assisting BBC UK Tax Director and reporting to the local CFO with a view to managing the tax affairs and reporting obligations of the BBC Worldwide Australian and NZ group, including Lonely Planet.
• Preparation and review of new tax consolidated group income tax calculations in accordance with applicable tax laws and accounting standards.
• Preparation and lodgement of the FBT returns for the group,
• Researching and analyzing tax developments and applications to specific business situations.
• Review of the business activities to identify R&D opportunities.
• Assist in managing ATO transfer pricing audit.
• Review of group tax processes and procedures to minimise risk and improve efficiencies.

The Origin Energy Ltd Group consisted of approximately 120 subsidiary companies which owns and operates an extremely diverse range of businesses, operating throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Region.

The company is listed on the ASX and has a turnover of over $8.2bn (2011). It employs over 5,200 staff.

Origin Energy operates businesses in the following areas:

1. Upstream oil and gas exploration and production, including APLNG,

2. Downstream businesses including:

• Electricity Generation,
• Construction, management and maintenance of pipeline networks and related assets,
• Wholesaler and Retailer of natural gas, LPG and electricity throughout Australia, and
• Retailer of LPG throughout New Zealand and various countries in the Pacific Region.

3. It also operated in substantial and active trading activities in the National Electricity Market,

Overview of responsibilities and achievements:

• Working in a small team of 5 senior tax managers (including 3 direct tax and 2 indirect tax managers) reporting directly to the Head of Tax, Tony Principe,
• My role as Senior Tax Manager involved principally managing the income tax affairs of the Downstream business.
• Liaise with staff (of various levels) in the Finance Group and business units, External Advisers and Revenue Authorities
• Address taxation issues (in particular income tax, R&D, stamp duty and employment taxes) raised by Head Office and Business Unit functions
• Provide technical support and assistance to staff responsible for the preparation of tax returns
• Review of various agreements and documents, including complex and lengthy supply agreements for the purpose of providing Group tax sign off as part of the Corporate Governance process
• Co-ordinate, manage and review of the income tax returns and supporting workpapers for the legal entities included in the Downstream business
• Review, comment and provide sign off on the half-yearly and yearly tax effect accounting workpapers for the Downstream business
• Co-ordinate, manage and review the research and development (R&D) tax concession review process for the entire Origin and APLNG group based in Australia, including lodgment of the R&D annual registrations, and ATO R&D schedule(s) to be lodged with the income tax return(s)
• Research and provision of strategic tax advice in relation to a wide range of transactions, including undertaking the due diligence review (either internally or with external consultants) in relation to acquisitions, disposals and major new business projects and contracts, including the Joint Venture Proposal for the development of Solar Cells offshore and various Wind Farm acquisitions
• Analysis of balance sheet items for the purpose of resetting the tax cost bases,
• Determining the tax cost setting amount and allocating to underlying assets
• Co-ordinate and run in-house tax training sessions for both finance and non-finance staff, together with external advisers where required
• Undertake reviews and checks as necessary from time to time, at the direction of and in co-ordination with the Group Taxation Manager to ensure the integrity of the tax management systems
• Identify and implement improvements in the compliance process and procedures, including income tax return preparation and review procedures, the R&D review process, compilation of sub-contractors checklist for payroll tax purposes, preparation of internal policy documents on FBT, international assignments, employee share schemes, and the new investment allowance.

Achievements:

When I commenced work at Origin in early 2006, the R&D spend identified from the most recent claim was approx. $13m, generating an additional tax deduction of less than $4m.

After my input in the review process, including identifying and implementing various improvements in the review and identification process, traveling to the various offices and running multiple annual training sessions throughout the Origin group, the groups R&D spend identified was over $300m, generating an additional tax deduction of approx. $90m.

As part of this process I also made significant improvements to the review and documentation process of the R&D claims collated so that they would better withstand scrutiny from the relevant revenue and industry bodies.

Downer Engineering was one of the largest and quickly expanding division of Downer EDI Ltd, offering expertise in engineering services (including energy systems, process engineering and facilities management), telecommunications and power services. Downer Engineering consisted of over 30 legal entities and had a turnover of approx. $2bn. It employed over 11,000 employees.

Overview of responsibilities and achievements:

• Newly created stand alone Head of Tax role, with no direct reports, reporting directly to the CFO, Richard Hemingway.
• Working closely with business units across the group operating in Australia, New Zealand and Asia to review, identify, develop and execute sustainable process improvements in relation to all tax related matters, with an emphasis on consulting and preparation of tax minimization strategies
• Co-ordinate and liaise with business units across the Downer Engineering division to meet both internal and external deadlines
• Provision of high level taxation advice and innovative solutions on various strategic matters, including the implications of cross-border transactions, tax consolidation, implications of corporate structures, group reorganizations, business acquisitions, and foreign exchange transactions
• Engage, co-ordinate manage projects with service providers
• Implementation of consolidation regime
• Preparation and review of consolidated group income tax returns
• Co-ordinate and manage the income tax return, R&D and FBT preparation, review and lodgment process for the group
• Develop and implement new group policies and procedures, including development of comprehensive guide on Foreign resident withholding tax, GST and FBT
• Preparation of Private Ruling requests
• Development of transfer pricing documentation and assist in transfer pricing reviews
• Preparation and review of CFC and FIF calculations
• Liaising with the ATO and AusIndustry in respect of tax related matters, and authority reviews for the group (including GST reviews and Co-operative Compliance Risk Review)
• Review of tax provisions and disclosure for statutory audit purposes
• Preparation and presentation of papers on taxation issues
• Maintain up-to-date understanding of latest tax developments
• Supervision and training of staff

Achievements

External advisor fees

The external advisor fees for the income tax review in previous years was approx. $300K. As part of my input and changes to the review and preparation process for the groups income tax returns, I was able to limit the external advisors fees to $50K.

R&D claims

When I commenced work at Downer in 2003, the business was undergoing both a GST and R&D audit. As a result of these audits it was obvious to me that vast improvements were required to the review and identification process for both R&D and GST.

The R&D spend identified from the most recent claim was approx. $3m, generating an additional tax deduction of less than $1m.

After my input in the review process, including identifying and implementing various improvements in the review and identification process, traveling to the various offices and running multiple annual training sessions throughout the Downer group, the groups R&D spend identified was over $200m, generating an additional tax deduction of approx. $60m.

As part of this process I also made significant improvements to the review and documentation process of the R&D claims collated so that they would better withstand scrutiny from the relevant revenue and industry bodies.

GST policy and procedures manual

During my time here I also prepared and developed internal GST policy and procedures manual for the group, and ran various training sessions for the group to better understand the GST compliance requirements.

• PwC is the largest accounting and consulting firm, providing industry-focused services for public and private clients
• Overview of responsibilities and achievements:
• Working closely with medium to large corporate clients operating in the pharmaceutical, leasing, retail and manufacturing industry in regards to tax strategy, planning, and compliance matters, whilst also delivering a wide range of business advisory services
• Management of own client base
• Developing innovative, but practical tax solutions in relation to various taxation matters including; pre-consolidation planning, thin capitalisation, capital gains tax, international tax (including transfer pricing and US tax) treatment of fixed assets, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate restructures
• Manage and review the income tax return, and FBT return preparation and lodgment process for clients
• Preparation and review of tax provision reconciliation and tax effect accounting journals
• Supervision, development and training of staff
• Maintenance of up-to-date understanding of latest tax developments
• Prepare and present on a number of in-house training topics.
• Quickly learned new skills and applied them to daily tasks, improving efficiency and productivity.
• Carried out day-day-day duties accurately and efficiently.
• Demonstrated respect, friendliness and willingness to help wherever needed.

• Second-tier accounting firm, employing over 680 staff throughout Australia, providing tax, audit and advisory services to corporate clients in the middle market
• Overview of responsibilities and achievements:
• Management of own client base
• Provision of tax advice on consolidation, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructures utilisation of group losses, GST, commercial debt forgiveness and the Unified Entity Taxation regime
• Manage and review the income tax return, and FBT return preparation and lodgement process for clients
• Preparation of a GST policy and procedures manual
• Preparation and review of tax provision reconciliation and tax effect accounting journals
• Supervision, development and training of staff
• Maintenance of up-to-date understanding of latest tax developments
• Prepare and present on a number of in-house training topics
• Client industry base includes public transport, importing and manufacturing, multi-international information technology network and water treatment companies.

• 3 partner chartered accountant firm whose client industry base includes multi-national tile manufacturer, ladies fashion chain, and pharmaceutical
• Overview of responsibilities and achievements:
• Manage own client base and co-ordinate lodgements of various returns, and supervision of small team of professionals
• Preparation and review of income tax returns, FBT and land tax returns
• Provision of advice regarding tax planning, financial planning, group re-structures and cost savings analysis
• Reviewing viability of upgrading computerised record keeping system, and the selection of location for new businesses
• Performance of statutory audits for the purpose of statutory reporting, and various cost control and efficiency evaluations.
• Fostered strong rapport with clients, vendors and stakeholders through consistent follow-up and communication.