TEC Desert Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue [2010] HCA 49

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

FRENCH CJ,

GUMMOW, HEYDON, CRENNAN AND KIEFEL JJ

TEC DESERT PTY LTD & ANOR APPELLANTS

AND

COMMISSIONER OF STATE REVENUE RESPONDENT

TEC Desert Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue [2010] HCA 49

15 December 2010

P26/2010

ORDER

1. Appeal allowed with costs.

2. Set aside the order of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Western Australia made on 15 January 2010 and, in place thereof, order that the appeal to that Court be dismissed with costs.

3. Within 28 days of the date of this order, or such further period as this Court may allow by order made within that 28-day period, the parties may file agreed short minutes of appropriate further orders as indicated in the reasons of this Court; and, in default of such agreement, the matter be remitted to the Court of Appeal.

On appeal from the Supreme Court of Western Australia

Representation

J W De Wijn QC with B Dharmananda for the appellants (instructed by Mallesons Stephen Jaques)

G T W Tannin SC with B P King for the respondent (instructed by State Solicitor for Western Australia)

Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.

CATCHWORDS

TEC Desert Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue

Stamp duties – Conveyance on sale – Interest in land – Sale Agreement provided for sale to appellants of chattels of WMC Resources Ltd ("WMC") – Sale Agreement required WMC to grant appellants, for a fee, licences to use "Fixtures" – "Fixtures" defined in Sale Agreement as items "affixed to land, and an estate or interest in which is therefore an estate or interest in land" – Most WMC assets on land subject of WMC mining tenements – Whether Sale Agreement transferred interest in land – Whether interest in items affixed to land subject of mining tenements interest in land – Whether such items "Fixtures".