Burt and Decision Maker

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application by Ms Burt to review a purported decision made by the Inspector-General of Taxation. The core of the dispute concerned whether the Tribunal possessed the legal authority to examine the decision.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it had jurisdiction to review the decision of the Inspector-General of Taxation, given the absence of any express statutory provision conferring such a power.

The Tribunal reasoned that the *Inspector-General of Taxation Act 1999* (Cth) did not grant the Administrative Appeals Tribunal the power to review decisions made by the Inspector-General. The letter from the Inspector-General's office dated 8 September 2016 indicated that dissatisfied persons could contact a research organisation to complete a survey for service improvement, but this did not constitute a right of review. The Tribunal concluded that without an express provision in the relevant Act allowing for a review, it lacked the necessary jurisdiction.

Consequently, the Tribunal ordered that it had no jurisdiction to review the decision for which the Applicant had lodged an application for review.