Tax & ATO News Australia

VPRX and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation) [2017] AATA 2156

The Applicant sold a website to a US buyer and received payment in instalments throughout the 2010 financial year, and further payments in the 2012 financial year. As the Applicant did not lodge a tax return for either year, the Commissioner issued default assessments with a 75% shortfall penalty based on amounts documented by AUSTRAC. The tax payable and penalties were reduced after the Applicant objected to the decision, and one payment was treated as capital.

The Applicant submitted that all of the documentation relating to the sale had been lost except for some emails. For the 2010 financial year payments, he contended that it was difficult to secure a fixed price during the GFC so the amounts received were ‘revenue payments’, consideration from the buyer based on their calculated profit, and were not income. He claims he was entitled to deductions for expenses in earning his ordinary income. With regard to the 2012 financial year payments, he contended that the penalty was unjust in circumstances where he was unable to locate the sale agreement. Indeed, the applicant was inefficient in producing evidence and failed to do so on several occasions.

The tribunal accepted the emails as evidence of a sale agreement but in the absence of its details, particularly the basis on which payments were calculated, treated the payments as income rather than capital. Regarding the penalty, the tribunal found that the Applicant’s inability to produce documents was no justification for concession and that, although he was not grossly careless, there was no justification for reducing the penalty in the circumstances. The tribunal reiterated that the onus is on the Applicant to establish that the assessments are excessive, and concluded that the Applicant was unable to discharge this burden. There were no submissions on the matter of capital gains tax.

Posted in: Tax & ATO News Australia at 28 November 17