Etmekdjian and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation)

The applicant, Etmekdjian, sought a waiver of disqualified person status from the Commissioner of Taxation. The dispute concerned whether exceptional circumstances existed to excuse a delay in lodging this application. The matter came before Deputy President Bernard J McCabe.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had demonstrated exceptional circumstances that prevented him from lodging his application for waiver of disqualified person status within the 14-day time limit prescribed by section 126B(3) of the relevant legislation.

Deputy President McCabe reasoned that the applicant's conviction for dishonestly influencing a Commonwealth public official, even if the date of conviction was considered to be June 2017 following an appeal, did not establish exceptional circumstances for the subsequent delay in lodging the waiver application. The Tribunal emphasised that merely having a good excuse, or that non-compliance caused no harm, or that the applicant had a strong substantive case, were insufficient to meet the threshold of "exceptional circumstances" required by the law. The Tribunal found that the applicant had failed to identify any such circumstances that prevented timely compliance with the statutory time limit.

Consequently, the decision under review was affirmed, meaning the applicant's request for a waiver of disqualified person status was not granted due to the failure to establish exceptional circumstances for the delay.