Lowrence and Lowrence

The parties to this proceeding were the applicants, Mr. and Mrs. Lowrence, and the respondent, the Commissioner of Taxation. The dispute concerned the Commissioner's assessment of income tax against the applicants for the 2014 income year. The applicants sought to object to this assessment, but their objection was disallowed by the Commissioner. Consequently, the applicants appealed to the Federal Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before Barry J was whether the Commissioner had erred in disallowing the applicants' objection to the amended income tax assessment for the 2014 income year. This required the Court to consider the nature of the applicants' income and whether it was correctly characterised and assessed by the Commissioner under the relevant provisions of the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1997* (Cth).

Barry J found that the applicants had failed to discharge their onus of proof to demonstrate that the Commissioner's amended assessment was excessive or otherwise incorrect. The Court was not satisfied that the applicants had provided sufficient evidence or legal argument to displace the Commissioner's findings regarding the characterisation and taxation of their income. Accordingly, the Court upheld the Commissioner's amended assessment. No orders were issued as the Court's decision was to dismiss the appeal.