Naumcevski v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation

[2019] NSWCA 72

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Taxes and Duties
2. › Income tax
3. › PAYG withholding
4. › Obligation to remit amounts withheld from wages and salaries
5. › Whether company paid wages and salaries to employees
6. › Whether director liable for penalty for company's failure to remit
7. › Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth), Sch 1 ss 12-35, 16-70, 269-10, 269-15, 269-20
1. Taxes and Duties
2. › Income tax
3. › PAYG withholding
4. › Withholding or purporting to withhold amounts under Division 12
5. › Whether company that withheld or purported to withhold amounts obliged to remit regardless of whether it was the payer
6. › Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth), Sch 1 s 269-10(2)
1. Evidence
2. › Documentary evidence
3. › Contemporaneous documents signed by party
4. › Weight to be given to formal documents inconsistent with maker's testimonial evidence
5. › Whether party who signed documents stating company had employees could establish that company had no employees
1. Taxes and Duties
2. › Income tax
3. › Evidentiary certificates
4. › Certificate under s 255-45 of Schedule 1 to Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth)
5. › Effect of certificate as prima facie evidence
6. › Whether certificate determinative where both sides adduce evidence

Quick Take

Where a company's Business Activity Statements, PAYG payment summaries, and tax returns — all signed by the director — consistently state that the company paid wages and withheld tax, the director bears a heavy forensic burden to explain why those documents should be disregarded in director penalty proceedings, and the absence of wage payments from the company's known bank accounts is insufficient to discharge that burden.