Box v Commissioner of Taxation [1952] HCA 61

High Court of Australia Dixon C.J. Williams, Fullagar, Kitto and Taylor JJ. Box v Commissioner of Taxation [1952] HCA 61

ORDER Appeal allowed with costs. Order respondent to reduce the assessment under appeal by excluding the sum of £1,750 from the assessable income of the appellant derived during the year ended 30th June 1946.

Cur. adv. vult.

The following written judgments were delivered:—

Nov. 17 Dixon C.J., Williams, Fullagar and Kitto JJ.

This is an appeal under s. 196 of the Income Tax and Social Services Contribution Assessment Act 1936-1950 (referred to the Full Court by the Chief Justice pursuant to s. 18 of the Judiciary Act 1903-1950) from a decision of the Commonwealth Board of Review No. 2, which by a majority upheld the contention of the respondent commissioner that the sum of £1,750 paid to the appellant by one John Henry Parkinson in February 1946 formed part of the assessable income of the appellant for the year ended 30th June, 1946. The material facts can be shortly stated. Prior to February, 1946, the appellant had been carrying on the business of a manufacturer and retailer of bread at 86 Elphin Road, Launceston. There is a cottage on the land, in which the appellant lived, one room of which, twelve feet square, was fitted up as a shop where bread was sold over the counter. The bakehouse was situated in the yard at the rear of the cottage. The trade over the counter was so small that it did not justify the employment of a whole time assistant and the customers were served by the housekeeper who looked after the home. A few orders for bread were received at the shop by telephone and a few customers preferred to pay their accounts at the shop rather than to pay the carters. The bread sold over the counter was approximately six per cent of the total sales. The rest of the bread was sold by delivering it in bread carts to the customers in their own homes pursuant to orders given to the carters on their rounds.