WHITTEN & WHITTEN

The parties in this matter were the applicants, Whitten & Whitten, and the respondent, the Commissioner of Taxation. The dispute concerned the Commissioner's assessment of income tax against the applicants for the 2017 and 2018 income years. The applicants sought to have this assessment set aside. The decision was made by Harland J of the Federal Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the applicants had discharged their onus of proof to demonstrate that the Commissioner's amended assessments were excessive. This involved determining whether the applicants had provided sufficient evidence to establish that certain amounts, which the Commissioner had treated as assessable income, were in fact not so. Specifically, the Court had to consider the nature of the transactions and the flow of funds to ascertain the true character of the amounts in question.

Harland J's reasoning focused on the applicants' failure to provide adequate substantiation for their claims. The Court found that the evidence presented by the applicants was insufficient to displace the presumption of correctness attaching to the Commissioner's amended assessments. The applicants had not demonstrated that the amounts in question were loans or otherwise not assessable income. Consequently, the Court concluded that the applicants had not met their burden of proof.

The Court ordered that the applicants' application be dismissed.