In a reassuring development for those among us who have ever smashed an abacus against a wall, sworn death upon Excel or been denied the chance to declare “Lost – The Complete DVD Box Set” as a legitimate tax write off the victim of a clerical error is enacting legal action against the Australian Tax Office for completely fucking his life up.
At last, Sydney man Gary Kurzer will have his day in court against the nation’s more-mistake-prone-than-you-realised federal taxation body after losing his business, homes, marriage, health and income when an erroneous tax bill based on “incorrect methodologies” triggered an eight year legal dispute and unknowable mental anguish.
in 2006, Kurzer was served a $200,000 tax bill – later corrected to just $8000 – after he and his then-partner sold a pair of properties in Terrigal. An oversight which took just five years, considerable personal investment and an independent review from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for the ATO to concede as their bad and rectify. Kurzer is now suing them for $5.8 million in damages for negligence.
But he might not be the only one. According to Fairfax, “a report published last week by the Inspector-General of Taxation found that up to 35 per cent of the $4.25 billion of tax penalties in the past three years were unfairly imposed and were later reduced.”
The case will be heard in September. Fight the good fight, sir.
Via SMH
