Robinson v Commissioner of Taxation [2017] FCA 162

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Robinson v Commissioner of Taxation [2017] FCA 162 File number(s): ACD 73 of 2016

Judge(s): JAGOT J

Date of judgment: 21 February 2017

Catchwords: TAXATION –whether in interests of justice to grant extension of time to appeal Tribunal decision – merit of proposed appeal – substantial injustice – application dismissed

Legislation: Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth)

Cases cited: XLPZ and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation) [2016] AATA 466

Date of hearing: 21 February 2017

Registry: Australian Capital Territory

Division: General Division

National Practice Area: Taxation

Category: Catchwords

Number of paragraphs: 16

Counsel for the Applicant: The applicant appeared in person

Counsel for the Respondent: Ms R Graycar

Solicitor for the Respondent: Australian Taxation Office, Review & Dispute Resolution

ORDERS ACD 73 of 2016

BETWEEN: PETER ROBINSON Applicant

AND: COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION Respondent

JUDGE: JAGOT J DATE OF ORDER: 21 FEBRUARY 2017

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1. The interlocutory application filed 23 November 2016 be dismissed. 2. No order as to costs. Note: Entry of orders is dealt with in Rule 39.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

JAGOT J: 1 I have before me today an interlocutory application which was filed on 23 November 2016, the effect of which is to seek to set aside my order of 22 September 2016. The order I made on 22 September 2016, on an ex parte basis, was that the application for the extension of time to appeal be dismissed due to the applicant's failure to appear and to be available on his nominated telephone number for the purpose of the interlocutory hearing. 2 The application for the extension of time was filed on 2 September 2016 and sought an extension of time to appeal from a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal) made on 1 July 2016 which affirmed the decision of the Commissioner of Taxation to refuse to exercise a power under s 340-5 of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth) (the Act) (see XLPZ and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation) [2016] AATA 466). The applicant had lodged an application seeking an exercise of power under that provision. That provision is in the following terms: 340-5 Release from particular liabilities in cases of serious hardship Applying for release (1) You may apply to the Commissioner to release you, in whole or in part, from a liability of yours if section 340-10 applies to the liability. (2) The application must be in the *approved form. (3) The Commissioner may release you, in whole or in part, from the liability if you are an entity specified in the column heading "Entity" of the following table and the condition specified in the column headed "Condition" of the table is satisfied. Entity and condition Item Entity Condition 1 An individual You would suffer serious hardship if you were required to satisfy the liability 2 A trustee of the estate of a deceased individual The dependents of the deceased individual would suffer serious hardship if you were required to satisfy the liability