Shqau v AAMI

Shqau v AAMI was a dispute heard by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) regarding the amount of weekly payments of statutory benefits under the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (MAI Act). The appellant, Shqau, a self-employed painter and decorator, had sustained a motor accident and was seeking to determine his weekly pre-accident earnings (PAWE) for the purpose of calculating his entitlement to weekly payments. AAMI, the respondent, had already made certain statutory benefit payments but disputed the amount of the weekly payments on the basis of the calculation of PAWE.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was the calculation of Shqau’s pre-accident weekly earnings, specifically the treatment of his business expenses, including the “instant asset write-off” under the instant asset write-off provisions of the MAI Act. AAMI contended that the Tribunal should not deduct certain business expenses from Shqau’s gross earnings, including JobKeeper Payments, which were characterised as gross business income. Shqau, on the other hand, argued that these expenses were properly deductible as they reflected the genuine business expenses incurred in his trade as a sole trader.

The Tribunal found that the reviewable decision was flawed because it failed to properly consider the deductibility of certain business expenses, including the “instant asset write-off” and JobKeeper Payments. The Tribunal held that the correct approach involved assessing whether the expenses were genuinely incurred in the course of carrying on the trade or business and whether they were ordinary and necessary for the production of assessable income. The Tribunal concluded that the relevant expenses were properly deductible and varied the decision accordingly, resulting in an increase in Shqau’s weekly statutory benefit payments.

The Tribunal ordered that the reviewable decision be varied to reflect the correct calculation of Shqau’s pre-accident weekly earnings, taking into account the deductible business expenses. AAMI was directed to pay Shqau the increased amount of weekly statutory benefits as determined by the Tribunal.