Chief Commissioner of State Revenue v Smeaton Grange Holdings Pty Ltd [2017] NSWCA 184

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Chief Commissioner of State Revenue v Smeaton Grange Holdings Pty Ltd [2017] NSWCA 184 Hearing dates: 22 June 2017 Decision date: 28 July 2017 Before: Gleeson JA at [1]; Leeming JA at [2]; Sackville AJA at [24] Decision: 1. Dismiss the respondents' Notice of Motion filed on 16 March 2017 objecting to the competency of the appeal. 2. Appeal allowed. 3. Set aside the answer to the separate question given by White J in [109] of the judgment delivered on 15 November 2016. 4. Set aside Orders 1-7 and 9 made by White J on 5 December 2016. 5. The respondents pay one third of the appellant's costs of the appeal, including one third of the appellant's costs of the respondents' notice of motion and one third of the appellant's costs of the summons seeking leave to appeal. Catchwords: TAXATION – payroll tax – operation of the "grouping of employees" provisions of the Payroll Tax Act 2007 (NSW) – whether trustee of a discretionary trust correctly grouped with another entity – whether object of the discretionary trust deemed to have a controlling interest in the business conducted by the trustee – whether a disclaimer executed by the object purporting to operate retrospectively could affect liability to payroll tax in a previous year – whether a discretionary object can disclaim retrospectively Legislation Cited: Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), s 79 Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth), s 23(g)(iii)

Payroll Tax Act 1971 (NSW) Payroll Tax Act 2007 (NSW), Pt 5 Succession Act 2006 (NSW) Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) Taxation Administration Act 1996 (NSW), ss 57, 106I(6)