About George
George Bassil is a senior associate in our Taxation team in Sydney.
He advises on a broad range of taxation matters such as tax structuring, transactions and advisory. George has acted for many of Australia's leading private groups, large corporate entities, private equity and large family groups.
Prior to joining the firm in 2021, George was a Manager in KPMG’s Corporate Tax Advisory practice and was admitted in 2018. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in accounting, a Bachelor of Laws from Macquarie University and is currently undertaking his Master of Laws at Sydney University.
Practice focus
George’s practice focuses on the following areas:
- advising clients in respect of corporate and international taxation including in the context of mergers and acquisitions, group restructures, consolidation, inbound and outbound investment and insolvency;
- advising clients in respect of income tax issues associated with financing arrangements including corporate and acquisition financing, property investment and development finance, including bilateral and syndicated facilities and senior and mezzanine facilities;
- advising clients in respect of the income tax law applicable to establishing, managing and restructuring collective investment vehicles such as unit trusts, managed investment trusts (MIT), attribution managed investment trusts (AMIT), early stage venture capital limited partnerships (ESVCLP), venture capital limited partnerships (VCLP) and corporate collective investment vehicles (CCIV);
- advising on the GST implications of property transactions, cross border transactions and on the sale of businesses;
- taxation issues affecting high-net worth individuals including the taxation of offshore assets and structures, issues and disputes concerning tax residency and advising on asset protection;
- advising on employee incentive programs for start-up companies and other private companies;
- advising on trust arrangements and the application of Division 7A;
- preparing private ruling applications for complex tax matters and proactively engaging with the ATO on areas of key tax uncertainty, and
- advising clients on ATO audits, reviews, objections and alternative dispute resolution.
Experience
George has acted in a range of taxation matters, including:
- StarRez: provided income tax advice in respect of the sale of StarRez to Vista Equity Partners.
- Zip Co: provided income tax advice in relation to Zip’s agreement to acquire US-based buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) provider, Sezzle.
- Chargrill Charlies: provided income tax advice in relation to PAG Asia Capital’s, via its Craveable Brands business, acquisition of Chargrill Charlie’s business.
- Various property funds in relation to managed investment trust structures and fixed trust matters.
- Large domestic and international financiers: in relation to structuring and taxation advice for various domestic and cross-border lending arrangements.
- Multiple high-net-worth individuals and family groups: in relation to ATO audits and disputes.
- Large domestic and international financiers: in relation to structuring and taxation advice for various domestic and cross-border lending arrangements.
Directorships & memberships
George is currently a:
- Fellow of The Tax Institute;
- Chartered Accountant with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand; and
- Member of the Australian branch of the International Fiscal Association (IFA).
