The AAT has declined a taxpayer’s request for review of the Commissioner’s decision not to release her from an income tax liability.
The taxpayer had sought review of the Commissioner’s decision not to release her from an income tax liability totalling almost $50,000 pursuant to s 340-5 of Sch 1 to the TAA for the reason that she would suffer “serious hardship” if she were required to pay it.
The Tribunal said that a substantial amount of the material filed by the taxpayer in support of her application was irrelevant to the issue for determination. This included the circumstances in which her income tax liability arose (involving the conduct of her former accountant), and the correctness of the Commissioner’s assessments.
The Tribunal concluded that, based on the evidence before it, the taxpayer would not suffer “serious financial hardship” if she were required to pay her income tax liability because: (i) she had sufficient assets to meet that income tax liability; and (ii) her expenditure on discretionary items was inconsistent with a person who was suffering “serious hardship”, and there was scope for her to reduce that expenditure. The Tribunal affirmed the Commissioner’s decision.
(AAT Case [2013] AATA 504, Re Fay and FCT, AAT, Walsh SM, AAT Ref: 2011/5502 -2011/5504, 16 July 2013.)
[LTN 136, 17/7/13]