VMQD and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation)

In VMQD and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation), the applicant, VMQD, sought an order from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) compelling the respondent, the Commissioner of Taxation, to lodge additional documents. VMQD claimed these documents were in the Commissioner's possession and potentially relevant to the review of the Commissioner's decision. The application was made under section 37 of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975*, as modified by section 14ZZF of the *Taxation Administration Act 1953*.

The AAT was required to determine whether the requested documents, specifically those referred to in Appendix A and Schedule 2, Item 2, were "necessary to the review" and "may be relevant" to the issues under consideration. VMQD contended that the Commissioner's evasion opinion lacked clarity regarding the basis for concluding VMQD directed contentious payments and the justification for characterising VMQD as personally deriving funds from payments made by FSAI Inc. VMQD argued that the withholding of documents relied upon by the Commissioner in forming this opinion potentially denied procedural fairness.

The Senior Member found that VMQD had not satisfied the threshold criterion that the documents in Appendix A "may be relevant" to the review proceedings. Even if relevance were established, the Senior Member considered the documents likely to be peripheral and unlikely to materially contribute to resolving the review. The request was deemed to involve circular logic, seeking documents that "may be relevant" without identifying specific documents or a particular class of documents that met this criterion. The Senior Member also found the request to be speculative, referencing previous AAT decisions that disapproved of such inquiries. Regarding the specific points raised by VMQD, the Senior Member concluded there was no substance to the claim that VMQD did not direct the payments, citing VMQD's own account. Furthermore, the Senior Member found no basis to be satisfied that the Commissioner possessed any additional documents relevant to the question of payment direction, noting that existing, uncontentious information tended to be inconsistent with VMQD's arguments.