Issue
Has an entity satisfied the time limit for claiming a wine tax credit in section 36 of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA) if the entity returned an amount of wine equalisation tax (WET) in error on its business activity statement (BAS) for July 2000, paid the amount in August 2000, and notified the Commissioner of the error in August 2004?
Decision
Yes. An entity has satisfied the time limit for claiming a wine tax credit in section 36 of the TAA if the entity returned an amount of WET in error on its BAS for July 2000, paid the amount in August 2000, and notified the Commissioner of the error in August 2004.
Facts
An entity is registered for GST and lodges its BAS on a monthly basis.
The entity overstated its WET liability in its BAS for the month ended 31 July 2000.
The WET was paid in August 2000.
The entity notified the Commissioner of the overpayment in August 2004.
Reasons for Decision
The Wine Tax Credit Table in section 17-5 of the A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999 (WET Act) sets out all the situations in which a person is entitled to a wine tax credit. The table also stipulates the time when the wine tax credit arises. Credit Ground CR1 specifies that a wine tax credit arises if an entity has paid an amount of WET that was not legally payable. CR1 also specifies that in such a situation, the entitlement to a wine tax credit arises "when the amount became overpaid".
Subsection 17-10(1) and section 21-15 of the WET Act permit an entity that is registered or required to be registered for GST to reduce its net amount for a tax period by the amounts of wine tax credits that arise during that period.
However, section 36 of the TAA specifies that an entity is not entitled to a wine tax credit for a particular tax period under section 21-15 of the WET Act unless it meets one of a number of requirements. The most relevant requirement is set out in paragraph 36(1)(d), which requires the entity to have notified the Commissioner of its entitlement to a wine tax credit within 4 years after the end of the tax period to which the credit relates.
As explained above, the entity's entitlement to a wine tax credit arose during the tax period ended 31 August 2000, which was the tax period in which it overpaid its wine tax.
Therefore the 4 year time limit specified in paragraph 36(1)(d) of the TAA was due to expire on 31 August 2004. As the entity advised the Commissioner of its entitlement to a wine tax credit in August 2004, the entity has satisfied the time limit for claiming a wine tax credit.