Mavris and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to make a decision after the death of an applicant. The applicant had sought a review of a luxury car tax decision and penalties imposed by the Commissioner of Taxation. Following the hearing and the receipt of final written submissions, the applicant died. The Commissioner subsequently informed the Tribunal that, in his view, the Tribunal no longer had jurisdiction to review the application or make a decision until an appropriate person was joined to the proceedings.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it retained jurisdiction to make a decision in circumstances where the applicant had died after the hearing and before the decision was published, and no other party had applied to be joined to the proceedings. The Commissioner argued that the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction and that the decision made should be considered a nullity, requiring further steps to establish a legally sound decision, potentially involving the joinder of a new party.

The Tribunal disagreed with the Commissioner's submissions. It reasoned that the Commissioner's reliance on *Re Andreatta* and section 30(1A) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) was misplaced in this context. The Tribunal held that it had jurisdiction to make the decision it did, and that this decision was presumed to be valid unless set aside in separate proceedings. The Tribunal's view was that the jurisdiction to make the decision was not extinguished by the applicant's death, and that any doubt regarding jurisdiction would be resolved by the presumption of validity.