LI 2023/32

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A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999

Legislative Instrument

I, Ben Kelly, Deputy Commissioner of Taxation, make the following determination.

1 Name

This instrument is the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) (Correcting GST Errors) Determination 2023.

2 Commencement

(1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.

Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.

(2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.

3 Authority

This instrument is made under subsection 17-20(1) of the Act.

4 Definitions

Note: A number of expressions used in this instrument are defined in Division 195 of the Act, including the following:

(a)

assessed net amount;

(b)

assessment;

(c)

current GST turnover;

(d)

GST group;

(e)

GST return;

(f)

net amount;

(g)

period of review;

(h)

tax period.

In this instrument:

Act means the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999.

Commissioner means the Commissioner of Taxation.

compliance activity means an examination of your GST affairs (other than an activity that the Commissioner notifies you in writing is not a compliance activity for the purposes of this instrument), and begins on the day the Commissioner advises you that an examination is to be made and ends on the day when the Commissioner:

(a)

gives a notice of assessment or notice of amended assessment in relation to the tax period under examination; or

(b)

advises you that the examination has been finalised.

Note: A compliance activity can be any examination of your GST affairs, including matters related to reviews, audits, verification checks, record-keeping reviews or audits, and other similar activities.

credit error means a mistake you made in working out your net amount for an earlier tax period that would, if it was the only mistake made in the tax period, have resulted in your assessed net amount for that earlier tax period being overstated.

credit error amount means the amount by which the assessed net amount for an earlier tax period would be overstated because of a credit error.

debit error means a mistake you made in working out your net amount for an earlier tax period that would, if it was the only mistake made in the tax period, have resulted in your assessed net amount for that earlier tax period being understated.

debit error amount means the amount by which the assessed net amount for an earlier tax period would be understated because of a debit error.

error means a credit error or a debit error but does not include a mistake that relates to:

(a)

an input tax credit, where your entitlement to that input tax credit has ceased under Division 93 of the Act; or

(b)

an amount that the Commissioner need not refund to you under section 105-65 in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953.

Note 1: Section 105-65 in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 has been repealed, but continues to apply to overpaid GST that relates to tax periods starting on or before 30 May 2014.

Note 2: In circumstances where subsection 29-10(4) or section 142-10 of the Act applies there will be no error for the purposes of this instrument despite any mistake made, as the assessed net amount for the earlier tax period will not be overstated.

net sum of the debit errors means the sum of any debit error amounts, less the sum of any credit error amounts, which you include in the net amount for the tax period in which you seek to correct a debit error for an earlier tax period.

5 Schedules

Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.

6 When an error may be corrected

In working out your net amount for a tax period, you may correct an error you made in an earlier tax period if:

(a)

the error relates to an amount of GST, an input tax credit or any adjustments under the Act;

(b)

the earlier tax period started on or after 1 July 2012;

(c)

you lodge the GST return for the tax period within the period of review for the assessment of the net amount of the earlier tax period;

(d)

at the time of lodging your GST return for the tax period:

(i)

the error does not relate to a matter that you have been notified is subject to a compliance activity, and was not made in working out your net amount for an earlier tax period that is subject to compliance activity; or

(ii)

if paragraph (i) does not apply, the Commissioner has notified you in writing that the error can be corrected under this instrument;

(e)

you have not corrected that error, to any extent, in working out your net amount for another tax period; and

(f)

where the error is a debit error, the conditions in section 7 are met.

7 Conditions for correcting a debit error

In working out your net amount for a tax period, a debit error you made in an earlier tax period may be corrected if:

(a)

the error was not a result of recklessness as to the operation of a GST law or intentional disregard of a GST law;

(b)

the error is corrected in a GST return that is lodged within the debit error time limit that corresponds with your current GST turnover specified in the table below; and

(c)

the net sum of the debit errors is less than the debit error value limit that corresponds with your current GST turnover specified in the table below.

Note: For a GST group, the current GST turnover is calculated for the group by including supplies that you and any other GST group members make in accordance with subsection 188-15(2) of the Act.

8 Error cannot be corrected by amending an assessment for a later tax period

You cannot correct an error you made in working out your net amount for an earlier tax period by requesting an amendment of your assessment for a later tax period.

Schedule 1—Repeals

Goods and Services Tax: Correcting GST Errors Determination 2013

1 The whole of the instrument

Repeal the instrument

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6 September 2023

Ben Kelly
Deputy Commissioner of Taxation

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Registration Number: F2023L01284

Registration Date: 25 September 2023

Related Explanatory Statements:

LI 2023/32 - Explanatory statement

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