MUC v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation

The applicant, MUC, appealed to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales concerning the recovery of tax by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation. The dispute centred on whether the Commissioner was entitled to recover certain amounts of Pay As You Go (PAYG) tax from MUC.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the limitation period prescribed by section 14 of the *Limitation Act 1969* (NSW) applied to an action brought by the Commissioner to recover tax under the *Pay As You Go Tax (Collection) Act 2000* (Cth) and related Commonwealth legislation. MUC contended that the Commissioner's claim was time-barred by this provision, while the Commissioner argued that the limitation period did not apply to the recovery of tax by virtue of an enactment.

The Court of Appeal, in dismissing the appeal, reasoned that the phrase "actions to recover money recoverable by virtue of an enactment" in section 14 of the *Limitation Act 1969* (NSW) referred to actions where the right to recover the money arose solely from the enactment itself, without any contractual or other common law basis. In this instance, the Commissioner's right to recover the PAYG tax was founded on specific Commonwealth legislation, not merely on a general statutory power to recover money. The Court applied the principle of *expressio unius est exclusio alterius*, inferring that the specific inclusion of certain types of actions within the limitation period implied the exclusion of others, particularly those arising from statutory obligations like tax recovery. The Court also considered the nature of tax as a statutory debt, distinct from a contractual debt, and concluded that the limitation period was not intended to apply to such statutory debts.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.