Deputy Commissioner of Taxation (Cth) v Rotary Offset Press Pty Ltd

High Court of Australia Gibbs, J. Deputy Commissioner of Taxation (Cth) v Rotary Offset Press Pty Ltd

ORDER Order Judgment for the plaintiff for $23,364.13 and for a further sum for additional tax calculated at the rate of 10 per cent per annum upon the sum of $21,035.79 from 6 August 1970 until the date of this judgment. Order that the defendant pay the plaintiff's costs of the action to be taxed. Usual order as to exhibits. Gibbs, J

This action is brought by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation against Rotary Offset Press Pty Ltd, the defendant, to recover sales tax allegedly payable by the defendant in accordance with the provisions of the Sales Tax Assessment Act (No. 1) 1930 (Com.), as amended (the Assessment Act). The plaintiff claims $23,364.13, made up of $21,035.79, sales tax assessed on 28 May 1969 under s 25(2A) of the Assessment Act in respect of the manufacture and sale during the period from 1 June 1967 to 31 March 1969, both inclusive, of a publication known as The Realtor, together with $2328.34 additional tax under s 29 of the Assessment Act at the rate of 10 per cent per annum from 28 June 1969 to 5 August 1970(the date of the writ), inclusive, upon the amount of sales tax unpaid. In addition, the plaintiff claims a continuing sum for additional tax at the rate of 10 per cent per annum upon the sum of $21,035.79 from 6 August 1970 until payment or judgment. It was common ground that during the period in question the defendant printed the publication for reward and it was not disputed—indeed it was, in effect, admitted on the pleadings—that the defendant manufactured and sold the publication within the meaning of the Assessment Act. The defendant's case, however, was that the publication was exempt from sales tax pursuant to s 5(1) of the Sales Tax (Exemptions and Classifications) Act 1930 (Com.), as amended (the Exemptions Act) and Items 51 and 54 of the First Schedule to that Act. The effect of s 5(1) of the Exemptions Act is that, subject to an immaterial exception, sales tax under the Assessment Act is not payable upon the sale value of any goods covered by Item 51 or Item 54 in the first column of the First Schedule to the Act. The whole question in the case, therefore, is whether the publication, The Realtor, is covered by either of those items. Item 51, so far as material, reads as follows:—