The Law Handbook 2024

Chapter 5.5: Taxation 403 Objecting to an amended assessment In some situations, you will receive an amended assessment from the ATO. In these circumstances, the following timeframes apply to objecting to the amended assessment after receiving the assessment: • individuals : two years; • small businesses : two years; • medium businesses : two years; • other taxpayers : four years. Fees and charges for lodging an objection There are fees and charges payable to courts and tribunals when you apply to have a decision of the ATO reviewed. When applying to the AAT, if the amount of tax being disputed is less than $5000 – or if the tax officer has refused to extend the time for you to lodge a taxation objection, or refused your request to be released from paying a debt regardless of the amount involved – a lower application fee of $107 is payable where an application is lodged on or after 1 July 2023. A fee of $581 is usually payable where the applicant is a small business entity, as such claims are decided within the Small Business Taxation Division of the AAT. For most other applications, the standard application fee is $1082 (as of 1 July 2023). Details of the other fees and charges can be found on the website of the particular court or tribunal (the AAT: www.aat.gov.au; the Federal Court: www. fedcourt.gov.au) . What should I include in my objection? A notice of objection form is on the ATO’s website. Your objection must adequately raise the disputed issues and the grounds you are relying on for claiming that the assessment is incorrect. That is, you must prove that the tax assessment is incorrect or excessive. Statements such as ‘it is incorrect’ or ‘it is excessive’ will not be sufficient without evidence to support them. In other words, you will not be successful merely because the ATO cannot justify its assessment of your tax liability. Should your objection ultimately come before the AAT or a court, you may be limited to arguing the grounds of objection that were sent to the ATO. Therefore, it is important that these grounds are clearly and comprehensively discussed. For this reason, it is often desirable to have your objection prepared by a professional tax adviser. What happens once my objection is lodged? Once the objection is sent to the ATO, it will be considered by an officer who did not make the original decision. Where the ATO has not made a decision within 60 days of the objection being lodged, you may write to the ATO requiring a decision to be made. Generally, if no decision is made within a further 60 days, the objection is deemed to be disallowed. This will enable you to pursue other remedies without further delay. Where the ATO rejects an objection, you generally have 60 days in which to either apply to the AAT for a review or appeal to the Federal Court. The Federal Circuit Court also has jurisdiction to review some administrative decisions, such as those of the ATO. An objection will generally be heard by the Taxation and Commercial Division of the AAT. Lodging an objection at the AAT or Federal Court If your argument with the ATO is one of fact, it is probably preferable to have the matter heard by the AAT. Proceedings are relatively informal, and the AAT is not bound by the strict rules of evidence that apply in courts. Further, if you are unsuccessful, you will generally not have to pay legal costs except for your own. The AAT has wider power than a court to review the exercise of the ATO’s discretions. Hearings are conducted in private, your identity will not be published and, if you wish, you may be represented by lawyers or others. Where the matter involves a question of law, or is regarded as a test case, it may be preferable to have the matter heard by the Federal Court, despite the formality and cost. In test cases, the ATO may undertake to pay your costs, even if the ATO succeeds in the Federal Court. It is possible for you or the ATO to lodge further appeals with the Full Court of the Federal Court,