PETRIE V. THE COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

HE HIGH COURT OF aT

"ie

TA

THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

ORIGINAL

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

Judgment delivered at______. SYDNEY —— on_.WEDNESDAY,..10TH AUGUST.1966..

'A. G. Books, Government Printer, Melbourne .7639/60

JUDGMENT

PETRIE ve

THE COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

WINDEYER J.

"Sy

PETRIE Ve

THE COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

ORDER

Appeals dismissed.

The taxpayer to pay the Commissioner's costs to date.

Assessment remitted to the Commissioner for his further consideration of the amount of tax payable in accordance with this decision. In the event of a disagreement as to this the taxpayer to be at liberty for one month from this date to restore the case to the list, at his risk as to eosts, for the assessment of the amount by the Court.

Usual order as to exhibits.

PETRIE ve

THE COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

These are appeals against assessments of income tax in respect of the years ended 30th June 1961 and 30th June 1962. The question is the same in each case, namely whether a profit which the taxpayer made when he sold an area of about 180 acres of vacant land near Everton Park, a suburb of Brisbane, was part of the assessable income of the taxpayer. He bought this land in 1956 for £3,300. He sold it in 1960 for £45,715 to a company, Reid Murray Development (Queensland) Pty. Limited. This company, now in the course of winding up, was a land development company, one of the companies in what was known as the Reid Murray Group which crashed in a disastrous insolvency. The price that it paid the taxpayer was paid in two instalments, one in each of the income tax years in question. That is why there are two assessments and two appeals, But the issue is a single issue - and it is a familiar issue in income tax cases. It is best considered by reference to s. 26(a) of the Act which is a statutory declaration of the general principle by which capital profits are distinguished from income profits.