McMahon and McMahon (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal by the father, Mr. McMahon, against a decision of the Child Support Registrar regarding the assessment of child support payable for his two children. The mother, Ms. McMahon, was the respondent. The dispute centred on the father's income, specifically whether certain payments he received should be included in his assessable income for child support purposes.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the Child Support Registrar had erred in including payments received by the father from his employer, described as "redundancy payments" and "long service leave payments," in his assessable income for the purposes of calculating child support. The father contended that these payments were of a capital nature and therefore should not be treated as ordinary income.

The court considered the nature of the payments and the relevant provisions of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth) and the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1936* (Cth) and *Income Tax Assessment Act 1997* (Cth). It was held that redundancy payments and long service leave payments, while having some characteristics of capital, were generally treated as assessable income for taxation purposes. The court found that the Child Support Registrar had correctly applied the principles of income tax law in determining that these payments constituted assessable income for child support purposes. The appeal was therefore dismissed.