JHKW and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation)

This matter concerned an application for review of a taxation objection decision that disallowed the Applicant's objection to amended assessments of net amounts for quarterly tax periods between 1 July 2012 and 31 March 2017. The amended assessments were made by the Commissioner of Taxation on the basis that the Partnership, of which the Applicant was a partner, was not entitled to input tax credits totalling $16,361.00 because the relevant business activity statements (BAS) were lodged outside the four-year time limit prescribed by the *A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999* (Cth) (GST Act). The decision was reviewed by D Mitchell M in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the Partnership remained entitled to claim the input tax credits for the specified periods, given that the BAS were lodged more than four years after they were required to be provided to the Commissioner. This involved determining whether any extensions of time to lodge the BAS had been granted by the Commissioner, and if not, whether the four-year rule under section 93-5(1) of the GST Act operated to extinguish the entitlement to the input tax credits. The Tribunal also considered the Applicant's contention that they believed they had received verbal extensions of time and were unaware of the four-year limitation.

The Tribunal reasoned that section 93-5(1) of the GST Act unequivocally states that an entitlement to input tax credits ceases if the BAS in which they are claimed is not given to the Commissioner within four years of the day it was required to be lodged. The Tribunal found that the Applicant lodged the relevant BAS on 21 June 2021, which was more than four years after the due dates for each period. The Tribunal concluded, based on the Commissioner's file notes and correspondence, that no further period to lodge the BAS had been provided to the Applicant, and that the Applicant had been repeatedly warned about the consequences of late lodgement. The Applicant's belief that verbal extensions were granted was not sufficient to override the statutory requirement.

Consequently, the Tribunal found that the Partnership's entitlement to the claimed input tax credits had ceased by the time the BAS were lodged. As the Applicant had not discharged their onus to prove that the amended assessments were excessive or incorrect, the decision under review was affirmed.