Page 38 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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residency period or a longer time to initially reside in the property. However, this rule seems unfair to those applicants who, due to unforeseen circumstances, simply cannot comply with these requirements.
The second amendment to the First Home Owner Grant Act fixes this. It extends the 12-month period to 18 months so that applicants who, for example, fall ill or are relocated for work or who, for some other good reason, are rendered incapable of seeing out the remainder of their residency, have a reasonable period of time to apply to the commissioner for an extension.
The third amendment also relates to first home owner grant residency and will provide a less cumbersome administrative process for the Revenue Office. Where a joint application is made by two or more people and one applicant for some reason, possibly work commitments, is unable to reside in the property but the other applicant can, the current arrangement requires the non-complying applicant to seek the commissioner’s approval for exemption from this requirement. This has proven to be an administratively cumbersome task.
This amendment will provide an automatic exemption in such cases and will remove that burden on applicants and the commissioner. This change will remove the requirement for the commissioner to exercise his discretion to exempt the non-complying applicant where at least one of the other joint applicants complies.
The final amendment contained in this bill introduces into the Taxation Administration Act a five-year time limit in which a taxpayer may apply to the commissioner for a refund of tax paid. Five years is considered a reasonable period of time in which a taxpayer would know that they had overpaid an amount of tax. This time allows the taxpayer ample opportunity to apply for a refund of that overpaid amount. Six of the other states and territories impose a five-year time limit, while one imposes a three-year limit. This will bring ACT tax refunds into line with other jurisdictions in relation to time limits on refunds.
Consultation in relation to this bill was carried out with the ACT Law Society and I am pleased to advise that the society has indicated that they do not have any significant concerns with the bill’s amendments. I thank other members for their support.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2009
Debate resumed from 12 November 2009, on motion by Ms Gallagher:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
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