The Federal Court has dismissed the Commissioner’s application to strike out the taxpayer’s appeal to the Federal Court against the disallowance of objections to 2 amended assessments. The Commissioner sought the order on the basis that by the time the taxpayer had filed his appeal in the Court, the Commissioner had already commenced proceedings in the AAT in respect of the same objection decisions.
However, after examining the relevant documents filed in each tribunal, the Court found that the appeal to the Court and the application to the AAT were in respect of different aspects of the Commissioner’s decision to disallow the taxpayer’s objections and, therefore, each was legitimate and valid. In particular, it found that the appeal to the Court was confined to the Commissioner’s decision to disallow the taxpayer’s objection in respect of the substantive issue underlying the amended assessments, while the AAT application was confined to the Commissioner’s decision to disallow the taxpayer’s objection in respect of the assessments of shortfall penalty.
(Ferguson v FCT [2012] FCA 706, Federal Court, Edmonds J, 5 July 2012.)
[LTN 128, 5/7]