HIGGINS & HIGGINS

In *Higgins & Higgins*, the parties were the applicants, Mr Higgins and Ms Higgins, and the respondent was the Commissioner of Taxation. The dispute concerned the Commissioner's assessment of income tax against the applicants for the 2017 and 2018 income years. The applicants sought to object to these assessments, but their objections were disallowed by the Commissioner. The matter came before Carew J in the Federal Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the Commissioner had erred in disallowing the applicants' objections to the income tax assessments. This involved determining whether the Commissioner had correctly applied the relevant provisions of the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1997* (Cth) in assessing the applicants' taxable income, particularly in relation to certain deductions or offsets they claimed.

Carew J considered the evidence presented and the submissions of both parties. The Court's reasoning focused on the interpretation and application of specific sections of the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1997* (Cth) concerning the eligibility for certain tax benefits. The Court ultimately found that the Commissioner had correctly applied the law and that the applicants had not established grounds for their objections to succeed.

The Court therefore dismissed the applicants' application.