On Monday 4 June and Tuesday 5 June the High Court heard the Commissioner’s appeal in the Qantas case, arguably the most important GST case to date.  The appeal was heard in Brisbane by a bench of 5 Justices (Gummow, Hayne, Heydon, Kiefel and Bell JJ). Judgment was reserved.

The transcript can be accessed here: Day 1  Day 2

The Commissioner appealed against the decision of the Full Federal Court in Qantas Airways Limited v Commissioner of Taxation [2011] FCAFC 113 where the Full Court unanimously allowed Qantas’ appeal against the decision of the Tribunal ([2010] AATA 977) and found that GST was not payable in respect of fares paid by passengers where those passengers did not show for the flight – because there was no taxable supply. My post on that decision can be accessed here.

The submissions filed by the parties are available on the High Court website and can be accessed here:

• Appellant’s submissions
• Respondent’s submissions
• Appellant’s submissions in reply