Federal Commissioner of Taxation v Reid

The High Court of Australia considered a dispute between the Federal Commissioner of Taxation and Mr. Reid concerning the Commissioner's power to amend an income tax assessment. The core of the disagreement lay in whether the Commissioner could alter an assessment made under the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1915-1918* after the repeal of that Act and the introduction of the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1922-1925*.

The central legal issue before the Court was the effect of the repeal of the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1915-1918* and the enactment of the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1922-1925* on the Commissioner's authority to amend assessments previously made under the repealed legislation. Specifically, the Court had to determine if section 33 of the 1915 Act, which granted the Commissioner the power to alter assessments, survived the repeal of that Act, or if the new provisions in the 1922 Act governed such amendments.

The Court reasoned that the repeal of the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1915-1918* extinguished the statutory power conferred by section 33 of that Act. It held that the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1922-1925*, while providing its own mechanisms for amendment, did not preserve the specific power to amend assessments made under the prior, repealed Act. The Court applied the principle that a statutory power, once repealed, ceases to exist unless expressly saved by the repealing legislation or by general saving provisions. Consequently, the Commissioner's attempt to amend Mr. Reid's assessment under the repealed section 33 was invalid.