Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

TAXATION ADMINISTRATION ACT 1953 - SECT 8K

  (1)   A person commits an offence if:

  (a)   the person makes a statement to a taxation officer; and

  (b)   the statement is false or misleading in a material particular.

  (1A)   In subsection   (1), absolute liability applies to the circumstance, that the statement is false or misleading in a material particular.

Note:   For absolute liability , see section   6.2 of the Criminal Code .

  (1B)   A person commits an offence if:

  (a)   the person makes a statement to a taxation officer; and

  (b)   the person omits any matter or thing from the statement; and

  (c)   the statement is misleading in a material particular because of the omission.

  (1C)   In subsection   (1B), absolute liability applies to:

  (a)   the conduct, that the person omits a matter or thing; and

  (b)   the circumstance, that the statement is misleading in a material particular.

Note:   For absolute liability , see section   6.2 of the Criminal Code .

  (2)   In a prosecution of a person for an offence against subsection   (1) or (1B), it is a defence if the person proves that the person:

  (a)   did not know; and

  (b)   could not reasonably be expected to have known;

that the statement to which the prosecution relates was false or misleading.

Note:   The defendant bears a legal burden in relation to the matter in subsection   (2), see section   13.4 of the Criminal Code .

  (2A)   Subsection   (1) or (1B) does not apply if:

  (a)   the statement (the original statement ) was made under section   389 - 5 in Schedule   1 notifying an amount under item   1, 2 or 2A of the table in subsection   389 - 5(1) in that Schedule (and no other item in that table); and

  (b)   the original statement related to the financial year in which it was made; and

  (c)   the person who made the original statement makes a further statement to a taxation officer that corrects the original statement in each of the respects in which it is false or misleading in a material particular; and

  (d)   the further statement:

  (i)   is in the approved form; and

  (ii)   if subsection   389 - 25(1) in that Schedule provides for a period for correcting the original statement--is made within that period; and

  (iii)   without limiting subparagraph   (ii), is made within 14 days after the end of the financial year in which the original statement was made.

Note:   A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection   (2A), see subsection   13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .

  (2B)   Subsection   (1) or (1B) does not apply if:

  (a)   the statement (the original statement ) was made under section   390 - 5 in Schedule   1; and

  (b)   the person who made the original statement makes a further statement to a taxation officer that corrects the original statement in each of the respects in which it is false or misleading in a material particular; and

  (c)   subsection   390 - 7(1) in Schedule   1 provides for a period for correcting the original statement; and

  (d)   the further statement:

  (i)   is in the approved form; and

  (ii)   is made within the period referred to in paragraph   (c) of this subsection.

Note:   A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection   (2B): see subsection   13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .

  (3)   For the purposes of subsection   (1B), a person shall not be taken to have omitted a matter or thing from a statement made to a taxation officer merely because the person has, in making the statement, failed to quote the person's tax file number.