Doutch v. Federal Commissioner of Taxation (Special leave decision)
Court appealed from: Federal Court of Australia (Full Court)
Doutch
v Federal Commissioner of Taxation
[2016] FCAFC 166
2016 ATC 20-592
[2017] HCASL 85
Date of decision: 5 April 2017
Result: Application dismissed with costs
Special leave application results
The High Court dismissed the taxpayers' application for special leave to appeal the Full Federal Court's decision in the matter of Doutch v DCT [2016] FCAFC 166.
This case involved the application of small business CGT concessions to the capital gains the taxpayer made on the sale of mining tenements. The CGT concessions only apply if the taxpayer was a "small business entity" for the purposes of Div 328 of ITAA 97, having regard to the "annual turnover" of a "connected entity" - a company the taxpayer controlled that carried on business as a drilling contractor. The taxpayer sought to exclude from the "annual turnover" of the drilling contractor entity receipts for on-charged fuel which the taxpayer sought to exclude on the grounds that these contracts were not "in the ordinary course of the (drilling contractor's) business" because normal practice in the industry was for the mining company to supply the relevant fuel. The Full Court held that the AAT was entitled to find that the fuel receipts were ordinary income derived in the ordinary course of carrying on a business.
The High Court dismissed the application for special leave on the papers.