Today the Commissioner published his Decision Impact Statement for the decision of the Tribunal in Rod Mathieson Truck Hire Pty Ltd as trustee for the Mathieson Family Trust and Commissioner of Taxation [2013] AATA 496 where the Tribunal affirmed the decision of the Commissioner that the taxpayer was liable for GST on the entire amount of consideration payable for the sale of land, notwithstanding that part of the consideration was lent to the purchaser under a vendor finance arrangement and the loan was only partially repaid. My analysis of the decision can be accessed here.

The Statement considers that the findings made by the Tribunal are consistent with the principles set out in GSTR 2001/8, 2003/12 and GSTD 2004/4 and are consistent with the submissions made to the Tribunal, that:

• for a taxpayer that accounts on a cash basis, attribution of GST or an input tax credit is determined by the meaning of ‘consideration’ and whether ‘consideration’ was received or provided and not by reference to the ordinary meaning of ‘cash’;
• in a vendor financing arrangement, consideration is received by a supplier on a set-off of the loan against amounts owing to the supplier by the purchaser;
• the postponement of payment of a debt does not constitute a loan where the recipient remains obliged to pay for the supply under the original supply contract; and
• where there is a contract for sale of land and a vendor financing agreement, the financing agreement is not ancillary or incidental to the contract for the sale of land.