ATO Interpretative Decision

ATO ID 2002/267

Goods and Services Tax

GST and concrete pumping equipment attached to truck - transitional provisions
FOI status: may be released
CAUTION: This is an edited and summarised record of a Tax Office decision. This record is not published as a form of advice. It is being made available for your inspection to meet FOI requirements, because it may be used by an officer in making another decision.

This ATOID provides you with the following level of protection:

If you reasonably apply this decision in good faith to your own circumstances (which are not materially different from those described in the decision), and the decision is later found to be incorrect you will not be liable to pay any penalty or interest. However, you will be required to pay any underpaid tax (or repay any over-claimed credit, grant or benefit), provided the time limits under the law allow it. If you do intend to apply this decision to your own circumstances, you will need to ensure that the relevant provisions referred to in the decision have not been amended or repealed. You may wish to obtain further advice from the Tax Office or from a professional adviser.

Issue

Is concrete pumping equipment, purchased separately and then affixed to the back of a truck, a 'body for a motor vehicle' for the purposes of paragraph 20(1)(c) of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax Transition) Act 1999 (GST Transition Act)?

Decision

No, the concrete pumping equipment, purchased separately and then affixed to the back of a truck, is not a 'body for a motor vehicle' for the purposes of paragraph 20(1)(c) of the GST Transition Act.

Facts

The concrete pumping equipment consists of 3 parts: a pumping unit, a hose and a hopper.

On a job site, concrete is poured from another truck into the hopper and then pumped from the hopper to the place where the concrete is needed. During the pumping operation, there are legs that are used to stabilise the operations.

The pumping equipment was purchased separately, and then affixed to a truck. The pumping equipment is not used to transport any concrete or anything else.

Reasons for Decision

Section 20 of the GST Transition Act deals with the phasing in of input tax credits for motor vehicles etc. Paragraph 20(1)(c) of the GST Transition Act provides that section 20 of the GST Transition Act applies to the acquisition by way of purchase (including hire purchase), or importation, of a 'body for a motor vehicle, including an insulated body, tank-body, or other body designed for transporting goods of particular kinds.'

A truck is a motor vehicle. Therefore, it needs to be determined whether the concrete pumping equipment is a body for the truck.

The term 'body' is not defined in the GST Act and therefore must be given its ordinary meaning. The Macquarie Dictionary (1997) defines 'body' to mean, amongst other things, 'a vehicle minus wheels and other appendages'.

The concrete pumping equipment is purchased and mounted onto an existing truck. The truck, without the concrete pumping equipment, is a complete vehicle consisting of a body, wheels, engine and attachments. The concrete pumping equipment is designed and built as specialised building and construction equipment. It has a specialised purpose, which is to be used on a worksite to pump ready-mix concrete from a hopper to the place where it is needed. This is distinct from the purpose of loading /carrying goods for transport on roads. It is separate and removable equipment that is mounted onto the truck as distinct from being fully integrated as part of the whole truck. The truck is used to transport the pumping equipment from site to site.

Therefore, the concrete pumping equipment is not a 'body for a motor vehicle' for the purposes of paragraph 20(1)(c) of the GST Transition Act.

[Note 1: As the concrete pumping equipment is not a 'body for a motor vehicle' for the purposes of the GST Transition Act, the phasing in of input tax credits for motor vehicles etc contained in that Act will not apply to the acquisition of the equipment. Where the purchase of the concrete pumping equipment is a creditable acquisition under section 11-5 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999, an entity will be entitled to an input tax credit for the acquisition.
Note 2: Phasing in of input tax credits no longer applies to motor vehicles etc. acquired on or after 23 May 2001 (subsection 20(2) of the GST Transition Act).]

Date of decision:  7 December 2001

Legislative References:
A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999
   section 11-5

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax Transition) Act 1999
   section 20
   paragraph 20(1)(c)
   subsection 20(2)

Other References:
The Macquarie Dictionary, 1997, 3rd edn, The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd, New South Wales

Keywords
Goods & services tax
GST transitional issues
Special transitional rules
GST supplies and acquisitions
Creditable acquisition

Siebel/TDMS Reference Number:  CW256259

Business Line:  Indirect Tax

Date of publication:  22 March 2002

ISSN: 1445-2782

Copyright notice

© Australian Taxation Office for the Commonwealth of Australia

You are free to copy, adapt, modify, transmit and distribute material on this website as you wish (but not in any way that suggests the ATO or the Commonwealth endorses you or any of your services or products).