Edgely Pty Limited v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [2014] NSWCATAD 103

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Edgely Pty Limited v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [2014] NSWCATAD 103 Hearing dates: 6 June 2013, 8 October 2013,14 March 2014, 21 May 2014. Decision date: 17 July 2014 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: J.Block, senior member Decision: The decision under review is affirmed. Catchwords: Whether assessment defective -- grouping of companies for the purposes of concessional status Legislation Cited: Land Tax Assessment Act 1956; Taxation Administration Act 1996 Cases Cited: Batagol v Federal commissioner of Taxation (1963) 109 CLR 243 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Edgely Pty Limited Chief Commissioner of State Revenue Representation: C. Robinson (Applicant) J. Mitchell (Respondent) City Legal Solicitors (Applicant) Crown Solicitor (Respondent) File Number(s): 116100

reasons for decision

Part A Preliminary and background 1The decision under review is the disallowance by the Respondent (who is usually referred to in these reasons as the "Chief Commissioner") of an objection by the Applicant against an assessment issued on 18 January 2010 ("the relevant assessment") of land tax referable to the 2010 land tax year ("the relevant year"). The Chief Commissioner disallowed the objection on 25 October 2011 and the Applicant filed an application for review on 22 December 2011. (It is important to note that there were throughout the hearing of this matter and for reasons set out below references to other land tax years and in particular the 2002 to 2009 land tax years (both land tax years inclusive) and which are generally referred to by reference to their actual years; it is equally important to note that in respect of all of those other land tax years the Tribunal does not have jurisdiction for the reasons set out below). 2This application commenced in the Administrative Decisions Tribunal ("the ADT") The ADT was merged into the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of New South Wales ("NCAT") on 1 January 2014 and in consequence of which I am authorised and required to determine the matter as a matter of NCAT; see clause 7(2) in Schedule 1 to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2014 ("NCAT Act"). Matters formerly dealt with in the Revenue Division of the ADT are dealt with in the Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division of NCAT; see section 96 of the Taxation Administration Act 1996 and clause 3(1) (b) in Schedule 3 to the NCAT Act. 3The Tribunal had before it the documents lodged in accordance with section 58 of the Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 (previously the Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act); it also admitted exhibits as follows: Exhibit A1 is an affidavit by Mr. Ronald Searle dated 14 November 2012; Exhibit A2 is a further affidavit by Mr Ronald Searle dated 2 May 2013; Exhibit R1 is the application for review dated 28 October 2011; Exhibit R2 is a land tax assessment; Exhibit R3 is an affidavit by Mr. Charles Yuen who is in the employ of the Chief Commissioner. 4In respect of each of the parties written submissions were issued and supplemented during the period during which hearings took place. The term "RFS" refers to the most recent of the submissions by the Chief Commissioner while "AFS" refers to the most recent of the submissions for the Applicant.