Valuation disputes can arise during compliance activities, private binding ruling requests, objections or litigation where, for example, you rely on a different set of facts, assumptions, methodologies or understanding of the applicable law than we do.
When these disputes arise we want to resolve them as early and efficiently as possible, saving time and money for you and us.
As soon as a market valuation dispute is identified, the following services are available as possible options to assist in resolving the dispute.
Expert valuer conferencing using ATO in-house facilitation
Expert valuer conferencing is a process whereby valuers of the opposing parties are brought together to seek areas of agreement and articulate those areas of and reasons for any remaining disagreement. The expert valuers can use the conference to explain the information and assumptions used in the methodologies that each party has adopted.
ATO in-house facilitation is an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process and is our version of mediation. It involves the use of trained ATO facilitators, who are independent of the ATO team, applying mediation skills to assist the parties to a dispute to discuss the issues in dispute and explore opportunities for resolution.
This process is available to you where there is a valuation dispute and both you and we have engaged separate valuers and there are material variances between the valuations obtained.
An impartial ATO in-house facilitator will be used to facilitate the discussion between the expert valuers. Even if the valuer conference does not result in agreement between the parties, the in-house facilitator will ensure that the conference results in establishing points of agreement and the areas that remain in dispute.
See also:
Joint instruction of separate valuers
Joint instruction of separate valuers is an approach that allows each party to retain their own valuer but agree on a common set of instructions for each of them. This presents a valuable opportunity to both parties to identify differences which may need to be reconciled before the respective valuations are undertaken thereby reducing the risk of divergent valuations.
Joint appointment of valuers
The joint appointment of a valuer would involve you and us agreeing on a single set of instructions and agreeing on a valuer with the cost of the valuation being shared between you and us.
If valuations have already been obtained, you and we may agree to jointly appoint another valuer as a ‘third expert’ to either critique or conduct a valuation, and to commit to accept the outcome of that process.
Early Neutral Evaluation
Early Neutral Evaluation (also known as Neutral Evaluation or ENE) is a process whereby the parties to a dispute present their arguments to an ADR practitioner (who is independent of us) who gives advice as to the appropriate manner of resolving the dispute. The ADR practitioner usually has substantial experience in tax law and gives advice about the decision a court or tribunal may make if the dispute proceeds to litigation.
ENE can take place at any stage of a dispute, but is often of most benefit before legal proceedings have commenced.
Valuation disputes can arise during compliance activities, private binding ruling requests, objections or litigations. This page provides options to assist in resolving these disputes.