Commonwealth Bank of Australia Limited v The Commissioner of Taxation; Chase AMP Bank Limited v The Commissioner of Taxation

These matters concerned appeals by Commonwealth Bank of Australia Limited and Chase AMP Bank Limited against the Commissioner of Taxation. The core dispute revolved around whether the debits tax, imposed by the *Debits Tax Act 1982*, was exigible in respect of arrangements between non-bank financial institutions, such as building societies, and banks. These arrangements allowed members of the non-bank institutions to draw cheques on accounts maintained by those institutions with banks. The applicants sought special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia.

The legal issue before the High Court was whether the accounts maintained by non-bank financial institutions with banks, and the cheques drawn on those banks by the members of the non-bank financial institutions, constituted "accounts" and "cheques" respectively within the meaning of section 3(1) of the *Debits Tax Administration Act 1982*. This interpretation was crucial for determining the applicability of the debits tax under section 4(a) of the *Debits Tax Act 1982*, which imposed a tax on each taxable debit of not less than $1 made to a taxable account.

The applicants argued that the arrangements in question were of sufficient general importance to warrant special leave to appeal, citing the significant number and face value of cheques involved in such facilities. The precise question for the Court was one of statutory interpretation, focusing on whether the specific definitions of "taxable debit" and "taxable account" in the *Debits Tax Administration Act* encompassed the described banking facilities and cheque-drawing mechanisms.