Davis and Secretary, Department of Social Services (Social services second review)

This matter concerned an appeal by Ms Davis against a decision of the Secretary, Department of Social Services, which deemed Family Tax Benefit (FTB) payments for the 2019/2020 financial year not payable. The core of the dispute revolved around whether Ms Davis had made an effective claim for FTB by the requisite deadline, which required the lodgement of her income tax return by 30 June 2021. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was tasked with determining if Ms Davis faced special circumstances that prevented her from meeting this deadline.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether Ms Davis had successfully lodged her FTB claim and her 2019/2020 income tax return by 30 June 2021, and if not, whether any "special circumstances" existed that would excuse this failure. The Tribunal was required to interpret the meaning of "special circumstances" as understood in social security law, which generally refers to situations that are unusual, uncommon, or exceptional, distinguishing a case from the ordinary or usual.

The Tribunal considered evidence regarding Ms Davis's personal circumstances, including a protracted dispute with her local council regarding unauthorised works on her property and her brother's arrest, which required her to secure legal representation for him. Ms Davis also described technical difficulties with the online submission of her FTB claim, stating she received no confirmation of submission and was unaware of the claim's status until she contacted Centrelink in July. However, the Tribunal was provided with information from the Department detailing the online FTB application process, which includes pop-up confirmation messages upon successful submission and an online tracker accessible through a Centrelink account or mobile app that displays the claim's status. The Tribunal found that Ms Davis had not lodged her tax return or her FTB claim by the 30 June 2021 deadline. It concluded that the circumstances Ms Davis described, while challenging, did not meet the legal threshold for "special circumstances" as they were not sufficiently unusual, uncommon, or exceptional to distinguish her case from the ordinary.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the reviewable decision, finding that FTB payments for the 2019/2020 financial year were not payable.