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

The object of this Division is to deter schemes to give entities benefits by reducing GST, increasing refunds or altering the timing of payment of GST or refunds.

If the dominant purpose or principal effect of a scheme is to give an entity such a benefit, the Commissioner may negate the benefit an entity gets from the scheme by declaring how much GST or refund would have been payable, and when it would have been payable, apart from the scheme.

This Division is aimed at artificial or contrived schemes. It is not, for example, intended to apply to:

• an exporter electing to have monthly tax periods in order to bring forward the entitlement to input tax credits; or

• a supplier of child care applying to be approved under the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 (this would make the supplies of child care GST-free); or

• a supplier choosing under section 9-25 of the Wine Tax Act to use the average wholesale price method for working out the taxable value of retail sales of grape wine; or

• a bank having its car fleet serviced earlier than usual, and before 1 July 2000, so that the servicing does not, at least initially, bear the GST.