A taxpayer whose objections against notices of assessment for over $220,000 were ruled invalid by the Commissioner on the basis that he was bankrupt at the time and therefore had no standing to object to them, has been unsuccessful in his application to the Federal Court to appeal against the Commissioner’s decision. Although the taxpayer was released from the debts as a result of later being discharged from bankruptcy, he nevertheless sought to appeal the Commissioner’s decision in view of the debt he incurred for child support based on those assessments.
However, in dismissing the taxpayer’s application pursuant to rule 13.01 of the Federal Court Rules 2011, the Court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to entertain the matter as there was no “objection decision” to form the basis of the taxpayer’s appeal. Likewise, the Court found that the taxpayer did not satisfy the requirement of being “dissatisfied” with the assessments at the time he lodged his objections because, as an undischarged bankrupt, his standing to object to the assessments at that time was vested in his trustee in bankruptcy and his trustee said he would not do so. (Grapsas v FCT [2011] FCA 1465, Federal Court, Gordon J, 15 December 2011.)
[LTN 18, 30/1]