Brennan and Long (Child support)

[2024] AATA 1187

Brennan and Long (Child support) [2024] AATA 1187 (27 March 2024)

DIVISION:Social Services & Child Support Division

REVIEW NUMBER:  2023/BC027103

APPLICANT:  Dr Brennan

OTHER PARTIES:  Child Support Registrar

Ms Long

TRIBUNAL:Member S Letch

DECISION DATE:  27 March 2024

DECISION:

The Tribunal sets aside the decision under review and, in substitution, decides that Dr Brennan’s adjusted taxable income for 2021/22 of $207,302 (and not $217,257) should be applied to the child support assessment from 1 October 2022.

CATCHWORDS

CHILD SUPPORT – particulars of the administrative assessment – adjusted taxable incomes for past periods – notices of assessment from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) – erroneous figure applied – application for review set aside and substituted

Names used in all published decisions are pseudonyms. Any references appearing in square brackets indicate that information has been removed from this decision and replaced with generic information so as not to identify involved individuals as required by subsections 16(2AB)-16(2AC) of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988.

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. This matter concerns a decision by Child Support to apply Dr Brennan’s purported 2021/22 adjusted taxable income of $217,257 to the child support assessment from 1 October 2022.

2. It is convenient by way of background to set out some extracts from the objections officer decision dated 15 November 2023:

   DECISION UNDER REVIEW

   The decision on 7 July 2023, to apply [Dr Brennan] s 2021/2022 Australian Taxation Office (ATO) assessed adjusted taxable income of $217,257 to the assessment from 1 October 2022.

   [Dr Brennan] has objected to this decision stating he would like his 2021/2022 amended taxable income of $207,302 applied to the assessment from 1 October 2022.

   …

   On 17 September 2022, we received information from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)  regarding [Dr Brennan]’s adjusted taxable income of $207,730 for the 2021/2022 financial year.

   On the same day, we made a decision to replace [Dr Brennan]’s 2021/2022 provisional income of $202,931 and apply [Dr Brennan]’s 2021/2022 ATO assessed adjusted taxable income of $207,730 to the assessment from 1 October 2022.

   On 7 July 2023, we received updated information from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) regarding [Dr Brennan]’s adjusted taxable income of $217,257 for the 2021/2022 financial year.

   On the same day, we made a decision to apply [Dr Brennan]’s 2021/2022 ATO assessed adjusted taxable income of $217,257 to the assessment from 1 October 2022.

   Letters were issued to both parties advising them of the decision.

   On 16 July 2023, we received [Dr Brennan]’s objection to this decision. [Dr Brennan] stated he would like his ATO income of $207,302 applied in the assessment from 1 October 2022.

   On 29 June 2023, we contacted [Ms Long] and advised her of [Dr Brennan]’s objection. [Ms Long] had no information to provide and did not wish to respond.

   …

3. Dr Brennan and Ms Long participated in the hearing by conference telephone.

4. Simply put, Dr Brennan contends the figure of $217,257 is a fiction. Child Support have not been able to provide any evidence supporting that figure. The ATO has advised him that his adjusted taxable income has never been assessed as that sum. He has received only two tax notices of assessment from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) (see the Child Support hearing papers at folios 25 and 33). Ms Long told the Tribunal she has accepted and trusted the decisions made by Child Support.

5. Dr Brennan recalled submitting his 2021/22 return some time in September 2022. The first notice he received from the ATO is the notice dated 7 December 2022 (folio 25). This revealed a taxable income of $202,322 (with a net rental property loss added to arrive at adjusted taxable income).

6. Dr Brennan’s taxable income was amended. The second notice he received was dated 24 July 2023: folio 33. This advised “previous taxable income” as $202,322 (consistent with the notice of 7 December 2022); “amended taxable income” was $201,036, and with a net rental property loss of $6,266 (folio 35), adjusted taxable income was $207,302. Dr Brennan accepts this sum should be retrospectively applied to the assessment from 1 October 2022.

7. According to Child Support, Dr Brennan’s taxable income was amended on 7 July 2023. However, this is not consistent with the notice of assessment dated 24 July 2023 which records Dr Brennan’s “previous taxable income” as $202,322. If his previous income was amended to some $217,000 (including the net rental property loss) in early July 2023, that notice would have recorded as much. Instead, it records previous income as per the original notice of 7 December 2022.

8. I accept Dr Brennan’s evidence that he has received only two notices of assessment for 2021/22 (on 7 December 2022 and 24 July 2023). I find that Dr Brennan’s original taxable income was assessed as $202,322; his taxable income was amended once on 24 July 2023 to $201,036. I conclude that the figure of some $217,000 apparently transmitted to Child Support from the ATO was an erroneous figure and some type of “glitch”.

9. I therefore conclude on the evidence available to me that Dr Brennan’s adjusted taxable income of $207,302 (and not $217,257) should be applied to the child support assessment from 1 October 2022: section 58A of the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989.

10. As I have reached a different conclusion to the objections officer, the decision under review will be set aside.

DECISION

The Tribunal sets aside the decision under review and, in substitution, decides that Dr Brennan’s adjusted taxable income for 2021/22 of $207,302 (and not $217,257) should be applied to the child support assessment from 1 October 2022.