The taxpayer has lodged a notice of appeal to the Federal Court against the decision of Deutsch DP in AAT Case [2012] AATA 477, Re Yazbek and FCT. The AAT had held in an interlocutory matter that the taxpayer was at all relevant times a beneficiary of a trust estate and that an amended assessment issued in April 2010 for the 2005 tax year was issued within time (ie within four years pursuant to Item 4 of s 170(1) of the ITAA 1936).

The Commissioner has appealed to the Full Federal Court against the decision of Perram J in Messenger Press Proprietary Limited & Ors v FCT [2012] FCA 756. The Federal Court had held that some 18 News Corp group companies were entitled to over $2bn in deductions for foreign exchange gain losses in the 2001 and 2002 income years under Div 3B of the ITAA 1936 (as it then applied) that arose from the global restructure of the group in the early 1990s. The losses arose from the repayment of foreign currency loans following a decline in the value of the Australian dollar at the time. The loans were essentially inter-corporate loans that had been taken out to assist with News Corp's serious financial problems at the time. The Commissioner generally resisted the claim for the losses on the basis that there was no physical change of foreign currency. The Federal Court disagreed and held the various News Corp group of companies that were party to the action were entitled to deductions for the losses (which could be transferred among them pursuant to s 32-17 of the ITAA 1997)