EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1984 NO. 408
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE TREASURER
These regulations amending the Income Tax Regulations will increase the level of penalties for offences against the Principal Regulations and make a number of amendments consequential upon amendments to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (the Act) by the Taxation Laws Amendment Act 1984 (the amending Act) which was assented to on 19 October 1984.
Regulation 1 facilitates references to the Income Tax Regulations which are referred to as the “Principal Regulations”.
Regulation 2 will repeal Part VII of the Principal Regulations which contains procedural rules that relate to prosecutions for offences under the Act. The repeal of this Part is consequential upon the repeal of Part VII of the Act by the amending Act and the enactment in the Taxation Administration Act 1953 of consolidated offence and prosecution provisions in relation to the various taxation laws.
Regulation 3 will delete the specific penalty contained in sub-regulation 58LA(2) with the result that the penalty for contravention of regulation 58LA will be that specified by regulation 65 being inserted by regulation 4.
Regulation 4 repeals the existing regulation 65 and substitutes a new regulation 65, which stipulates that a person who contravenes any provision of the Principal Regulations for which a penalty is not expressly provided is guilty of an offence for which the maximum penalty is $500.
The First Schedule to the Principal Regulations contains forms which are prescribed for purposes of Part VII of the Principal Regulations and sub-section 220(5) of the Act. Section 220 authorises the Commissioner to make an assessment of the amount of tax payable up to the date of death of a deceased taxpayer where probate has not been granted or letters of administration taken out within 6 months of death, and order certain persons to recover assessed tax from any assets of the deceased taxpayer. By regulation 52, such an order must be in accordance with Form 9 of the First Schedule. Regulation 5 will substitute a new Form 9 for the existing Form 9 in consequence of amendments to section 220 by the amending Act. Regulation 5 will also omit Form 10 (Notice of Election by the Defendant to Have a Taxation Prosecution Tried in a Higher Court) and Form 11 (Certificate of Order under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936) in consequence of the enactment by the amending Act of consolidated offence and prosecution provisions in relation to the various taxation laws in the Taxation Administration Act 1953.
By reason of section 8 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, the Commissioner may continue to institute taxation prosecutions under Part VII of the Act in relation to offences committed prior to the repeal of that Part by the amending Act.
Sub-regulation 6(1) contains transitional rules which will ensure that regulations which presently apply to such prosecutions - regulations 55, 56, 57 and 58 - may continue to apply notwithstanding the repeal of those regulations by regulation 2.
Sub-regulation 6(2) provides that where the term “the Act” is used in the regulation, it is to be taken to mean the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936.