Millard v Commissioner of Taxation

Millard (the taxpayer) appealed to the Federal Court of Australia against a decision of the Commissioner of Taxation (the Commissioner) to disallow a claim for a deduction under section 8-1 of the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1997* (Cth) for expenses incurred in relation to a property. The taxpayer sought to deduct interest expenses and other outgoings associated with a property that was not rented out but was available for rent.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the expenses incurred by the taxpayer in relation to the property, which was not generating income but was held out as available for rent, were deductible under section 8-1 of the *Income Tax Assessment Act 1997*. This required the Court to consider whether the expenses were incurred in gaining or producing assessable income, or were necessarily incurred in carrying on a business for the purpose of gaining or producing assessable income.

Taylor J found that the taxpayer had not demonstrated that the property was genuinely available for rent in a way that would satisfy the requirements of section 8-1. The Court considered the taxpayer's efforts to rent the property and concluded that they were insufficient to establish that the expenses were incurred in the course of carrying on a business or in the process of producing assessable income. The availability of the property for rent was not sufficiently established to allow the deduction.

The appeal was dismissed.