Progress Engineering Company Pty Ltd and Commissioner of Taxation

Progress Engineering Company Pty Ltd (the taxpayer) sought review of an objection decision by the Commissioner of Taxation concerning a private ruling. The dispute centred on whether a proposed lump sum compensation payment would be an exempt compensation payment for income tax purposes. The matter came before Mr R L Hamilton SC, Senior Member, of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to review the Commissioner's objection decision. This question arose because the period to which the private ruling related had ended, and the taxpayer had not yet entered into the proposed scheme.

The Senior Member reasoned that the Tribunal's jurisdiction to review an objection decision under section 14ZZB of the *Taxation Administration Act 1953* (Cth) is contingent on the objection being made against a private ruling that is still in force. As the period to which the private ruling related had expired, the ruling was no longer in force, and consequently, the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to review the objection decision. The legal principle applied was that the validity of a reviewable objection decision is tied to the continued currency of the private ruling it concerns.

The Tribunal therefore concluded it did not have jurisdiction to review the objection decision.