Commissioner of Taxation v Energy Resources of Australia Limited

(2003) 135 FCR 346; [2003] FCAFC 314

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Taxation
2. › Income tax
3. › Trading stock
4. › Valuation
5. › Opening value of trading stock
6. › Whether opening value must equal closing value actually adopted in previous year or correct value under statutory methods
7. › Whether erroneous valuation capable of amendment where previous year's assessment cannot be reopened
8. › Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth), ss 28, 29, 31, 170
1. Statutes
2. › Construction
3. › Long-standing judicial decisions
4. › Parliamentary endorsement of judicial construction
5. › Whether repeated amendment of surrounding provisions without disturbing judicially construed words constitutes legislative approval of that construction
6. › Use of subsequent amendments to construe ambiguous earlier provision
7. › Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth), s 29
8. › Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth), s 70-40(1)
1. Words and Phrases
2. › 'ascertained'
3. › Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth), s 29

Quick Take

Under s 29 of the 1936 Act, the opening value of trading stock for an income year must be the correct value under the prescribed statutory methods, not merely the figure historically adopted, even where the previous year's assessment cannot be amended under s 170.