Tyson and Secretary, Department of Social Services (Social services second review)

This matter concerned an appeal by the applicant against a decision by the Secretary of the Department of Social Services to reduce his Newstart allowance. The core of the dispute revolved around whether the applicant's former spouse's company, Monwood, was a "designated private company" and a "controlled private company" during the relevant period, and whether the applicant was an "attributable stakeholder" in that company. These determinations were crucial for attributing income derived from the company to the applicant for the purposes of assessing his social security entitlement.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether Monwood met the criteria for a "designated private company" under section 1207N of the relevant Act, and whether it qualified as a "controlled private company" under section 1207Q. Furthermore, the Tribunal had to ascertain if the applicant was an "attributable stakeholder" of Monwood, considering the provisions of section 1207X and the Attributable Stakeholders Determination. The Tribunal also needed to consider the applicable derivation and attribution periods for any income attributed to the applicant and whether shareholder loans to the company should result in deemed income.

The Tribunal found that Monwood was a designated private company as it was a small non-public company and not an excluded company, meeting the size criteria under section 1207N. It was also determined to be a controlled private company because the applicant held 50% of the ordinary shares and a 50% direct control interest, and served as the sole director until February 2017, satisfying the control tests in section 1207Q. The applicant was deemed an attributable stakeholder under section 1207X, as his role as sole director until February 2017 meant he could reasonably be expected to exercise effective control, irrespective of his claim of lacking access to information for tax returns. The Tribunal concluded that loans made by the applicant to Monwood were subject to the method statement in section 1076(3A) for calculating deemed income.

The reviewable decision was affirmed.