Bosanac v Commissioner of Taxation

Bosanac sought to appeal a decision of the Commissioner of Taxation, which disallowed objections to notices of amended assessment. The dispute centred around the validity of the amended assessments and assessments of shortfall penalty that resulted from the Commissioner’s exclusion of Bosanac from the “Project DO IT” initiative. Bosanac argued that the assessments were excessive and challenged the validity of the resulting assessments and penalties under section 39B of the Judiciary Act 1903.

The court had to decide whether Bosanac discharged the onus of proving that the impugned assessments were excessive and whether the reliance on the “Project DO IT” initiative was justiciable in tax appeals under Part IVC of the Act. The court also needed to determine whether the exclusion of Bosanac from the initiative was valid and whether it led to the excessive assessments.

The court found that the factual basis for Bosanac’s claim regarding the “Project DO IT” initiative had been rejected, and thus, the challenge under section 39B failed. Consequently, the court dismissed Bosanac’s application for relief under section 39B entirely. Each proceeding was dismissed with costs as agreed or assessed, and entry of orders was dealt with in Rule 39.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.