Narlexi Pty Ltd and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation)

Narlexi Pty Ltd sought to challenge a decision by the Commissioner of Taxation regarding its eligibility for the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Cash Flow Boost). The dispute concerned whether Narlexi Pty Ltd met the specific eligibility criteria for the boost, which required the applicant to have made a taxable supply in a tax period that commenced on or after 1 July 2018 and ended before 12 March 2020. The matter was heard by a Senior Member of the Tribunal.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Narlexi Pty Ltd satisfied the requirement of having made a taxable supply within the specified timeframe. Narlexi Pty Ltd was incorporated in December 2019 and accounted for Goods and Services Tax (GST) on a quarterly basis. Its first quarterly tax period in which it made taxable supplies concluded in March 2020, which fell outside the period defined by the legislation for eligibility for the Cash Flow Boost.

The Tribunal reasoned that legislative schemes distributing significant funds necessarily contain eligibility criteria, and Parliament is entitled to draw a line for such criteria. In this instance, Narlexi Pty Ltd's circumstances placed it outside the eligibility criteria established by Parliament. The Tribunal concluded that neither the Commissioner nor the Tribunal possessed any discretion to permit the payment of the Cash Flow Boost to Narlexi Pty Ltd given these circumstances. Consequently, the decision under review was affirmed.