The AAT has held that it did not have jurisdiction to hear a taxpayer’s application for review of an alleged objection decision by the Commissioner concerning a GST refund issue.
The Tribunal said Mr Andrew Garrett, as trustee of the Andrew Garrett Family Trust (No 3), lodged with the AAT an application on behalf of the Family Trust for review of a decision he identified as having been deemed to have been made by a delegate of the Commissioner under s 14ZYA(3) of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA). The AAT said the decision the trustee claimed the Commissioner is deemed to have made concerned the Family Trust and the assessment of the appropriate amounts of GST payable or refundable to them.
The trustee stated that the decision was deemed to have been made after the Family Trust gave the Commissioner a written notice under s 14ZYA(2) on 24 March 2013 requiring him to make an objection decision on a taxation objection lodged earlier.
The Commissioner rejected the proposition that he was deemed to have made a decision on the basis that he did not receive a valid objection until 16 February 2013. As 60 days had not passed between that date and the date on which he was given notice [of the objection], the Tribunal said he could not be deemed to have made a decision under s 14ZYA(3).
Therefore, as the Commissioner had not yet made a decision at the time the trustee lodged an application, let alone been deemed to have made one, the AAT held the Family Trust was not entitled to lodge an application under s 14ZZ of the TAA. As it was not entitled to do so, its application was not made under that legislation and the Tribunal said it had no powers of review.
(AAT Case [2013] AATA 395, Re The Trustee for Andrew Garrett Family Trust No 3 and FCT, AAT, Forgie DP, AAT Ref: 2013/2568, 12 June 2013.)
[LTN 113, 14/6/13]