Commissioner of Taxation v. Carter & Ors

Lower Court Judgment

10/09/2020 Federal Court of Australia (Jagot, Davies & Thawley JJ)

[2020] FCAFC 150

Catchwords

Taxation – Trust distribution – Effect of disclaimer – Where respondents default beneficiaries of trust – Where trust deed provided respondents entitled to income of trust for given tax year (ending 30 June) if trustee did not make effective determination departing from default position – Where trustee had not made effective determination as at 30 June 2014 – Where s 97(1) of Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) provides if beneficiary of trust is “presently entitled” to share of trust income, that share included in assessable income of beneficiary – Where, following audit, on 27 September 2015, applicant issued income tax assessments to respondents for income year ended 30 June 2014 including their share of 2014 trust income – On 30 September 2016, respondents purported to disclaim entitlement to income from trust for 2014 income year – Where Full Court of Federal Court considered themselves bound to hold general law extinguishes entitlement to trust income ab initio and held disclaimers displaced application of s 97(1) – Whether disclaimer of gift render gift void ab initio for all purposes – Whether, if beneficiary disclaims trust distribution after end of income year, beneficiary “presently entitled” to distribution for purposes of s 97(1).