2008

The Parliament of the

Commonwealth of Australia

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Presented and read a first time

Judiciary Amendment Bill 2008

No.      , 2008

(Attorney‑General)

A Bill for an Act to amend the Judiciary Act 1903, and for related purposes

Contents

1............ Short title............................................................................................ 1

2............ Commencement.................................................................................. 1

3............ Schedule(s).......................................................................................... 1

Schedule 1—Limits on actions to recover invalidly raised taxes                2

Judiciary Act 1903                                                                                                      2

A Bill for an Act to amend the Judiciary Act 1903, and for related purposes

The Parliament of Australia enacts:

1  Short title

                   This Act may be cited as the Judiciary Amendment Act 2008.

2  Commencement

                   This Act commences on the day after it receives the Royal Assent.

3  Schedule(s)

                   Each Act that is specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this Act has effect according to its terms.

Schedule 1—Limits on actions to recover invalidly raised taxes

Judiciary Act 1903

1  Section 79

Before “The laws of each State”, insert “(1)”.

2  At the end of section 79

Add:

             (2)  A provision of this Act does not prevent a law of a State or Territory covered by subsection (3) from binding a court under this section in connection with a suit relating to the recovery of an amount paid in connection with a tax that a law of a State or Territory invalidly purported to impose.

             (3)  This subsection covers a law of a State or Territory that would be applicable to the suit if it did not involve federal jurisdiction, including, for example, a law doing any of the following:

                     (a)  limiting the period for bringing the suit to recover the amount;

                     (b)  requiring prior notice to be given to the person against whom the suit is brought;

                     (c)  barring the suit on the grounds that the person bringing the suit has charged someone else for the amount.

             (4)  For the purposes of subsection (2), some examples of an amount paid in connection with a tax are as follows:

                     (a)  an amount paid as the tax;

                     (b)  an amount of penalty for failure to pay the tax on time;

                     (c)  an amount of penalty for failure to pay enough of the tax;

                     (d)  an amount that is paid to a taxpayer by a customer of the taxpayer and is directly referable to the taxpayer’s liability to the tax in connection with the taxpayer’s dealings with the customer.

3  Application

The amendments of the Judiciary Act 1903 made by this Schedule apply in relation to the recovery of amounts paid after the commencement of this Schedule.