Auctus Resources Pty Ltd v CofT – ATO could not recover a refundable tax offset for R&D after project disallowed – both parties failed to argue the relevant ‘transitional provision’

On 31 July 2020, the Federal Court found against the Commissioner, who was attempting to recover a refundable tax offset, after Innovation and Science Australia, repudiated the registration of the R&D project. The Commissioner was out of time to issue an amended assessment and tried to use a provision in the ‘running balance provisions’ of the Taxation Laws Administration Act 1953 (TAA), before getting a lesson from His Honour Justice Steward, on how the tax law works, including some obscure ‘transitional provisions’.

See below for details.

[Tax Month – July 2020]