External review—costs of proceedings—Act, s 198 (4)
6 External review—costs of proceedings—Act, s 198 (4)
At any time during a proceeding before the ACAT on an application for external review of an ACAT reviewable decision, a party to the proceeding (the requesting party) may ask the ACAT to order the other party to the proceeding to pay the requesting party’s costs arising from the application for external review (a costs order).
The ACAT may make a costs order if—
the requesting party gives the ACAT itemised details of the costs within the time the ACAT considers appropriate; and
the ACAT is satisfied on reasonable grounds that—
the itemised details show the costs were reasonably incurred; and
the costs relate only to the preparation of, and appearances in relation to, the application for external review of the ACAT reviewable decision; and
if a costs order has previously been made in relation to the application—the total of all costs orders for the application do not exceed the maximum amount mentioned in subsection (3); and
it is appropriate to make the order.
The maximum amount that the ACAT can order for costs is—
ACAT filing fee—
includes the fee for filing an application; but
does not include the fee for additional hearing days.
The maximum amount mentioned in subsection (3) includes any GST payable in relation to the work done for or in the proceeding.
However, the costs payable to the requesting party are reduced by the amount of any input tax credit for GST to which the requesting party is entitled in relation to the party’s costs.
In this section:
costs means the fees, disbursements and expenses that the ACAT considers necessary for the preparation of, and appearances in relation to, an application for external review of an ACAT reviewable decision.
input tax credit—see the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cwlth), section 195-1 (Dictionary).
itemised details, of the costs, means details of—
the legal costs (clearly identifying costs that are legal fees and costs that are disbursements) payable by the party to the party’s lawyer; and
other fees or expenses incurred by the party in relation to the application for external review of an ACAT reviewable decision.
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