--- title: "Standing up to the ATO: Fortuna Advisory Group wins $0.5 million tax objection" description: "Standing up to the ATO: Fortuna Advisory Group wins $0.5 million tax objection" --- - [![phone-icon](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Fortunaadvisors_October2019/Images/phone-icon.png?width=25&height=25&name=phone-icon.png) (08) 9240 4211](tel:%200892404211) - - - [![Fortuna Advisory Group](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Fortunaadvisors_October2019/Images/logo-advisory-group.png?width=236&height=48&name=logo-advisory-group.png "Fortuna Advisory Group")](http://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/) - [Home](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/) - Services - [Tax & Business Advisory](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/) - [Tax and Compliance Services](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/tax-and-compliance-services-2/) - [Bookkeeping Services](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/bookkeeping-services/) - [SMSF](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/smsf/) - [Business Planning](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/business-planning/) - [Buy/Sell a Business](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/buying-selling-business/) - [CFO & Company Secretary](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/cfo-company-secretary/) - [Estate Planning](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/estate-planning/) - [Foreign Business Planning](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/foreign-business-planning-2/) - [Management Accounting & Reporting](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/management-accounting-and-reporting/) - [Strategic Business Development](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/strategic-business-development-2/) - [Succession Planning](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tax-business-advisory/succession-planning/) - [Brokerage Services](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/brokerage-services/) - [Business Finance](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/brokerage-services/business-finance/) - [Commercial Property Loans](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/brokerage-services/commercial-property-loans/) - [Equipment Finance](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/brokerage-services/equipment-finance/) - [Home Loans](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/brokerage-services/home-loans/) - [Motor Vehicle Finance](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/brokerage-services/motor-vehicle-finance/) - [Financial Planning](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/wealth-management/) - [Budgeting & Cashflow](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/wealth-management/budgeting-cashflow/) - [Insurance](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/wealth-management/insurance/) - [Investment Advice](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/wealth-management/investment-advice/) - [Retirement Planning](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/wealth-management/retirement-planning/) - [Strategic Business Planning](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/wealth-management/strategic-business-planning/) - Legal - [Business Law](https://www.fortunalegal.com.au/business-law/) - [Wills & Estate Planning/](https://www.fortunalegal.com.au/wills-estate-planning/) - [Self-Managed Super](https://www.fortunalegal.com.au/superannuation/) - [Property Law](https://www.fortunalegal.com.au/property/) - [Settlements](https://www.fortunalegal.com.au/settlements/) - [Litigation (Court Cases)](https://www.fortunalegal.com.au/litigation-court-cases/) - About - [About Us](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/about-us/) - [Our MD and Team](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/about-us/our-md-and-team/) - [Careers](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/about-us/careers/) - [What Our Clients Say](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/testimonials/) - Community - [Resources](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/resources/) - [Newsletter](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/newsletter/) - [Blogs](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/) - [Make a Difference](https://fortunafoundation.org.au/) - [Contact](https://www.fortunaadvisors.com.au/contact-us/) # Standing up to the ATO: Fortuna Advisory Group wins $0.5 million tax objection by [Stephen Gethin](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/author/stephen-gethin) | Aug 13, 2019 | [Blog](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tag/blog), [News](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tag/news), [legal](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/tag/legal) Fortuna Accountants & Business Advisors along with Fortuna Legal combined to successfully object to an amended assessment issued by the ATO which sought to impose additional tax, penalties and loss denials on a restaurant group of over $500,000. The ATO issued amended assessments on various bases, including a claim that the restaurant group’s figures were outside the benchmark ratio for total expenses to turnover. The objection demonstrated that the group legitimately incurred several large expenses which were higher than average but, when adjusted to normal levels, left the group’s ratios within the target range. Fortuna Advisory Group Managing Director Dinesh Aggarwal said: “This result highlights the benefits to clients of our one-stop shop approach to professional service delivery. The Accounting and Legal divisions interacted seamlessly to prepare an objection combining financial analysis and principles of law.” Fortuna Legal Director Stephen Gethin questioned the application of benchmarks without regard to legitimate reasons why any given business may be outside them: “Benchmarks are just statistics and every data-set has outliers. Some business owners are more skilled at cost control than others. A failure to meet benchmark cost ratios should not be grounds for the ATO to issue an amended assessment without actual evidence of the business inflating costs or hiding income.” For legal advice on commercial, tax, property or self-managed superannuation law, contact us today [![Schedule a meeting with us](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Schedule%20a%20meeting%20with%20us.png?width=2480&name=Schedule%20a%20meeting%20with%20us.png)](https://meetings.hubspot.com/dinesh7)   ### Let’s have a catch up!   [![bottomcontact](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Fortunaadvisors_October2019/Images/bottomcontact.jpg?width=292&name=bottomcontact.jpg)](mailto:info@fortunaadvisors.com.au)   ### Find Us ### Latest Blogs ### Please follow & like us - [![](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/hubfs/Fortunaadvisors_October2019/Images/default_facebook.png)](https://www.facebook.com/fortunaadvisors) - [![](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/hubfs/Fortunaadvisors_October2019/Images/default_linkedin.png)](https://www.linkedin.com/authwall?trk=bf&trkInfo=AQEeYgjD2BtZzQAAAWQsY22Yz8ld8DVK4dmMhyK7Zj0mYnxZj5-Tk1c8iSJ3KXIUTeW3j7bq1cQ9fQdhaHDOxFhAvWuWg7OIsom9Bj1ev_I8dVMxWLjGN56ev4mdC29pjkAq0SQ=&originalReferer=&sessionRedirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fcompany%2Ffortuna-accountants-%26-business-advisors%3Ftrk%3Dnav_account_sub_nav_company_admin) - [![](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/hubfs/Fortunaadvisors_October2019/Images/default_twitter.png)](https://twitter.com/fortunaadvisors/) - [![](https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/hubfs/Fortunaadvisors_October2019/Images/default_youtube.png)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLgA0a4tQ25F10bwyjQInGA) ![](https://px.ads.linkedin.com/collect/?pid=3610066&fmt=gif) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Stephen Gethin", "url" : "https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/author/stephen-gethin" }, "dateModified" : "2023-05-23T07:59:58.744Z", "datePublished" : "2019-08-13T02:57:26.000Z", "headline" : "Standing up to the ATO: Fortuna Advisory Group wins $0.5 million tax objection", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/2019/08/13/standing-up-to-the-ato-fortuna-advisory-group-wins-0-5-million-tax-objection", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.fortunaadvisors.com.au/hubfs/Fortuna%20logo.png" }, "name" : "Fortuna Advisory Group" } } ```