Chami and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the dispute between Mr Chami and the Commissioner of Taxation concerning the cancellation of Mr Chami's Australian Business Number (ABN) and Goods and Services Tax (GST) registration. The core of the dispute revolved around whether Mr Chami was genuinely carrying on an enterprise for the purposes of GST and ABN legislation.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether Mr Chami had established that he was carrying on an enterprise, and consequently, whether his revised Business Activity Statements, which declared nil activity, accurately reflected his business operations. A key issue was the absence of independent corroborating material to support Mr Chami's claims regarding his business activities.

The Tribunal found that Mr Chami had failed to provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that he was carrying on an enterprise. While Mr Chami asserted that all corroborating material had been lost in a flood, the Tribunal was not satisfied that this explanation was sufficient to overcome the lack of independent verification. The Tribunal applied the principles that the onus is on the taxpayer to establish their entitlement to registration and that claims must be supported by credible evidence. In the absence of such evidence, and with an uncorroborated explanation for its loss, the Tribunal affirmed the Commissioner's decision to cancel the ABN and GST registration.