Dana Levi, instructed by the Australian Taxation Office, successfully acted for the Commissioner of Taxation in a hearing before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The Tribunal affirmed the reviewable decisions of the Commissioner, finding that the taxpayer had failed to discharge the burden of proving that the assessments were excessive. The Tribunal also rejected an argument that the safe harbour exception should apply to penalties imposed pursuant to s 284-75(3) of Schedule 1 to the TAA. The taxpayer had argued that he would be disadvantaged for concluding that he had no obligation to lodge tax returns as compared to a taxpayer who lodged a nil return, but the Tribunal considered that it did not have any discretion to consider the behaviour of the taxpayer given the express wording of the statutory provisions.

The full judgement can be read here.