INTHEBLACK May 2026 - Magazine - Page 33
Curtin Tax Clinic was founded
in 2018 by Annette Morgan and
Donovan Castelyn to provide
reliable tax advice to vulnerable
people in Western Australia.
The Clinic’s student volunteers
are supervised by experienced
tax professionals and its success
led to the establishment of the
National Tax Clinic Program.
Its work includes a prison
program where inmates at
17 prisons in WA receive help
with their tax affairs while
building financial literacy.
Tax and
transformation
As co-founder of Curtin Tax Clinic, Annette Morgan FCPA helps
vulnerable people get their tax affairs into a healthier state.
Words Susan Muldowney
Photography Ryan Ammon
ANNETTE MORGAN FCPA IS A TAX
accountant, an academic and a champion
of social justice. As director and co-founder
of the Curtin Tax Clinic at Curtin University,
she is committed to closing gaps in tax
education and providing access to reliable
tax advice for some of the most marginalised
groups in Western Australia.
A recent study by researchers at UNSW
shows that more than 30 per cent of
Australians in financial hardship need tax
advice but are unable to access it, and that
late tax returns — which sometimes lag by
up to 30 years — are more likely to be seen
in lower socio-economic communities.
While the Australian Taxation Office’s
Tax Help service provides valuable assistance
to those with incomes of A$70,000 or less, it
is only offered between July and October each
year. Initiatives like Curtin Tax Clinic aim
to close this gap by providing eligible people
with competent, free tax advice from student
volunteers under the supervision of experienced
tax professionals. And it is open 50 weeks
of the year.
“Life events have the potential to derail
anyone, and then their responsibility
as taxpayers is not as important to them,”
says Morgan, who is also academic lead
of the Industry Community Hub at Curtin
University. “People get sick, someone
important in their life dies, or maybe they
have family issues. There are all kinds
of situations that can make people vulnerable,
and while we do not have a magic wand to
make their tax debts disappear, we work
very hard to help them get their tax affairs
in order.”
FORGING A NEW PATH
The first of its kind in Australia,
Curtin Tax Clinic was set up as a trial in
2018. Thanks to the advocacy of Morgan
and her co-founder Donovan Castelyn, the
federal government now funds similar tax
clinics at 20 universities around the country,
including Curtin, under the National Tax
Clinic Program.
In 2023–24, Curtin Tax Clinic's 43 student
volunteers helped nearly 1400 new clients.
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