The Federal Court has refused an applicant’s Interlocutory Application that sought a suspension or stay of an AAT decision which affirmed a Tax Practitioners Board decision to reject his application for transitional registration as a tax agent and to terminate his registration as a BAS Agent, or, in the alternative, an interlocutory injunction preventing that decision from coming into full effect.
In an earlier decision in Kolya v Tax Practitioners Board [2012] FCA 215, the Federal Court had dismissed the applicant’s appeal from an earlier decision of the AAT which affirmed the decision of the Tax Practitioners Board to reject his application for transitional registration as a tax agent and to terminate his registration as a BAS Agent. The Court found the AAT had applied the correct law and that the transitional arrangements did not remove the requirement that a person be a “fit and proper person” for the purposes of s 20-5(1)(a) of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009.
The applicant has filed a notice of appeal to the Full Federal Court and sought a suspension or stay of the AAT’s decision. The Federal Court considered there was a strong case in favour of refusing the interlocutory injunction which had been sought, even if it were to be satisfied (which it said it was not) that the appellant had established a serious question to be tried or a prima facie case in respect of his appeal. Accordingly, the Court dismissed the Interlocutory Application filed by the appellant. (Kolya v Tax Practitioners Board [2012] FCA 492, Federal Court, Foster J, 11 May 2012.)
[LTN 93, 16/5]