The AAT has held it had no jurisdiction to hear a taxpayer’s application to have it review the Commissioner’s decision to refuse to dismiss District Court proceedings against him in respect of alleged contraventions of the Financial Transactions Reports Act 1988 (Cth).
In effect, the AAT found that a decision made under a Commonwealth Act was only reviewable by the AAT if a Commonwealth Act says that it is – and that this was not the case here. In doing so, the AAT dismissed the taxpayer’s claim that the reference in s 14ZL(1) of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to the words “[reviewable] determination” and “decision” was not confined solely to matters of assessment. Instead, the AAT found that s 14ZL acted as a “gatekeeper” to Pt IVC.
It also noted that while there are some other types of decisions that are directly reviewable by the AAT, these were limited to those specifically listed in s 202F(1) of the ITAA 1936, which did not include the decision that the taxpayer complained of.
(AAT Case [2012] AATA 598, Re Wray-McCann and FCT, AAT, Ref No 2012/1145, Frost SM, 6 September 2012.)
[LTN 175, 10/9]