The Victorian Supreme Court has granted the Commissioner summary judgment against a taxpayer for outstanding tax and penalty totalling almost $23m.
On 20 February 2013, the Supreme Court (Mukhtar J) gave summary judgment for the Commissioner for $22,848,994.13 in tax and penalty. The Court said the assessments arose out of a payment of bonuses made to the taxpayer by his employer, Primelife Corporation Ltd, to a trust of which the taxpayer was a beneficiary. The bonuses were paid in the form of shares, which were assessed as assessable income as either ordinary or statutory income. In the alternative, the Commissioner also determined that Pt IVA applied and issued the assessments giving effect to that determination. The taxpayer was unsuccessful in an appeal to the Full Federal Court and has sought special leave to appeal to the High Court.
The taxpayer’s grounds for resisting summary judgment were rejected by the Supreme Court. As a result, the Court granted the Commissioner summary judgment against the taxpayer. However, it agreed to the filing of material and submissions to determine at a future date the taxpayer’s application for a stay of execution of this judgment pending the hearing and determination of his High Court special leave application. (DCT v Sent [2013] VSC 64, Supreme Court of Victoria, Mukhtar J, 22 February 2013.)
[LTN 37, 25/2/13]