Its official!! The results are out for Federal Commissioner of Taxation vs Symone Antis!!

taxabull — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:21:03 +0000

We have been covering this tax case with interest from Day One….

FINAL CONCLUSION

The Symone Antis v. FC of T case confirms that education expenses should be allowaed as deductions against Youth Allowance income.

This is a massive win for tertiary students around Australia earning Youth Allowance income!!

From a revenue perspective, the court ruled that Youth Allowance is assessable income as per s 6.5. It doesn’t fall under educational scholarships which is exempt income as per s 6-20.

In fact, it is specifically mentioned in s 51-35 that,

“‘The following payments made to or on behalf of a full time student at a school, college or university are not exempt from income tax under item 2.1A of the table in section 51 10:”

The court also ruled that “the expenditure in question was incurred in the course of gaining or producing the respondent’s assessable income within the first limb of s 8-1″.

It is amazing that the Commissioner was pursuing the case so vigourously considering the facts of the case. Perhaps it is indicative of the overall aggressive tact taken recently by the ATO.

Here’s a quick recap for those who are new to this case…

SUMMARY FOR THOSE WHO MISSED THE CASE RULING

SYMONE’S CASE

Symone (the taxpayer) is claiming that her education expenses should be tax deductible because being enrolled in a tertiary education is one of the prerequisites for her entitlement to Youth Allowance.

So, she claimed various expenses such as textbooks, depreciation on the computer, travel, etc.

COMMISSIONER’S CASE

The ATO claimed that this was bogus because she incurred these education expenses to finish her teaching degree and eventually qualify as a teacher.

They are arguing that the expenses are not deductible because it wasn’t incurred to derive an income. That is, she was not earning money as a teacher yet at this point in time.

They also rejected the argument that the education expenses was a valid deduction to get Youth Allowance income.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

17/11/2006 ATO issues an amended tax assessment to Symone

27/11/2006 Symone objects to amendment

05/12/2006 ATO disallows Symone’s objection

12/12/2006 Symone goes to Tribunal to dispute ATO decision

18/04/2007 Tribunal rules in favour of ATO

21/07/2008 Symone appeals to the Federal Court

01/04/2009 The Federal Court rules in favour of Symone

29/05/2009 The ATO appeals against the Federal Court decision

04/11/2009 The full Federal Court dismisses the ATO’s appeal

COURT JUDGEMENTS

Symone Anstis and Commissioner of Taxation – AAT (18 April 2007)

Anstis v Federal Commissioner of Taxation – Federal Court (1 April 2009)

FC of T v Anstis – Full Federal Court (4 November 2009)

Cheers!
Taxabull Team

Top 11 Forgotten Tax Tips for Everyday Australians

taxabull — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:49:33 +0000

It’s that time again you dread: TAX TIME!

We have put together a list of simple tax tips for everyday Australians. Tips like considering salary packaging, consolidating your super and the timing of your tax return.

Please check out our guest post for Savings Guide.

If you have any tax questions, please leave a comment!

From the Taxabull team.

#1 provider of Australian tax information on twitter

Taxabull » income tax return

Its official!! The results are out for Federal Commissioner of Taxation vs Symone Antis!!

Top 11 Forgotten Tax Tips for Everyday Australians