Woodside Energy Ltd (ABN 63 005 482 986) v Commissioner of Taxation (No 2) [2007] FCA 1961

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Woodside Energy Ltd (ABN 63 005 482 986) v Commissioner of Taxation (No 2) [2007] FCA 1961 TAXATION – petroleum resource rent tax – taxable profit – assessable receipts less deductible expenditure – assessable petroleum receipts – whether a net concept – net of expenses payable in relation to sale of marketable petroleum commodities – whether such expenses include hedging losses – range of expenses covered by connection – direct relationship to commodity sales required – text of provision – context and scheme of Act – legislative history – Explanatory Memorandum – hedging expenses not able to be taken into account in determining assessable petroleum receipts – whether expenses comprised deductible expenditure incurred in carrying on or providing operations facilities and other things comprising the project – insufficient connection with the conduct of the project – hedging losses not general project expenditure EVIDENCE - expert economic and accounting opinion – economic rent taxing model said to underpin statute – evidence that proposed model initiated process leading to enactment of statute – economic model equating hedging losses – insufficient evidence of connection to actual terms of statute to provide assistance in construction – expert accounting evidence – treatment of hedging losses as expenses of sale – utility dependent upon anterior construction of statute WORDS AND PHRASES - "in relation to" Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Assessment Act 1987 (Cth) s 21, s 22, s 24, s 32, s 38 Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Act 1987 (Cth) Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) s 15AB Petroleum Resource Rent Legislation Amendment Act 1991 No 80 of 1991 Taxation Laws Amendment Act (No 3) 1991 No 216 of 1991 Atlantic Sugar Refineries v Minister of National Revenue [1949] CTC 196 cited Australian Gas Light Company v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (2003) 137 FCR 317 cited Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Maritime Union of Australia (2001) 114 FCR 472 cited Boral Besser Masonry Ltd v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (2003) 215 CLR 374 cited Echo Bay Mines Ltd v R [1992] CF 707 cited Melway Publishing Pty Ltd v Robert Hicks Pty Ltd (2001) 205 CLR 1 cited O'Grady v Northern Queensland Co Ltd (1990) 169 CLR 356 cited Placer Dome Canada Ltd v Ontario (Minister of Finance) (2006) SCC 20 cited Robe River Mining Co Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation (1989) 21 FCR 1 cited Stevens v Kabushiki Kaisha Sony Computer Entertainment (2005) 224 CLR 193 cited Woodside Energy Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation (2006) 155 FCR 357 cited Workers' Compensation Board (Qld) v Technical Products Pty Ltd (1988) 165 CLR 642 cited WOODSIDE ENERGY LTD (ABN 63 005 482 986) v THE COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA WAD 282 OF 2004