3Interpretation

3 Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

account means an account kept with a financial institution, being an account to which payments by the institution in respect of cheques drawn on the institution by the account holder, or by one or more of the account holders, may be debited.

account holder means the person in whose name, or either or any of the persons in whose names, the account is kept.

account transaction, in relation to an account, means:

(a) the payment of a cheque; or
(c) the doing of any other act or thing;

that will result in the making of a debit to that account.

assessment means:

(a) the ascertainment of tax payable under this Act in respect of a taxable debit or taxable debits, or an eligible debit or eligible debits, as the case may be; or
(b) the ascertainment of additional tax payable under section 17.

certificate of exemption means a certificate under section 11.

cheque, in relation to an account, means an order in writing, drawn on a financial institution by or on behalf of the account holder, or any one or more of the account holders, requiring the financial institution to pay on demand a sum certain in money to, or to the order of, a specified person or persons, or to bearer.

Commissioner means the Commissioner of Taxation.

company means a body corporate, a partnership or any other unincorporated association or body of persons.

Deputy Commissioner means a Deputy Commissioner of Taxation.

eligible debit means a debit (other than an excluded debit or an exempt debit) made to an account.

excepted goods, in relation to a Department, authority, corporation or body, means goods, or goods included in a class of goods, that are declared by the regulations to be excepted goods.

excepted services, in relation to a Department, authority, corporation or body, means services, or services included in a class of services, that are declared by the regulations to be excepted services.

excluded debit means a debit:

(a) made to an account kept with a financial institution in the name of:
(i) the Governor‑General or the Governor of a State;
(ii) a person who, but for subsections 8(3) and (4), would be entitled to exemption from the tax by virtue of any other law of the Commonwealth, being a debit made in relation to a transaction or transactions carried out by or on behalf of the person for purposes related wholly and exclusively to his private or domestic affairs, other than purposes related to activities that constitute the carrying on of a business by that person in Australia;
(iii) an organization other than:
(A) a Department of the Government of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory;
(B) an authority of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory; or
(C) a municipal corporation or other local governing body;
that, but for subsections 8(3) and (4), would be entitled to exemption from the tax by virtue of any other law of the Commonwealth, being a debit made in relation to a transaction or transactions carried out by or on behalf of the organization wholly and exclusively in engaging in its official activities;
(iiia) an organization that is established by an agreement to which Australia is a party and which obliges Australia to grant that organization an exemption from the tax, being a debit made in relation to a transaction or transactions carried out by or on behalf of the organization wholly and exclusively in engaging in its official activities;
(iv) a person who holds an office in an organization established by an agreement to which Australia is a party and which obliges Australia to grant the holder of that office an exemption from the tax, being a debit made in relation to a transaction or transactions carried out by or on behalf of the person for purposes related wholly and exclusively to his private or domestic affairs, other than purposes related to activities that constitute the carrying on of a business by that person in Australia;
(v) a government of a country other than Australia;
(vi) any of the following:
(A) a public benevolent or a religious institution;
(B) a public hospital or a hospital that is carried on by an association or other body of persons otherwise than for purposes of profit or gain to the individual members of that association or other body;
(C) a university, a government college or government school, or a college or school that is carried on by an association or other body of persons otherwise than for the purposes of profit or gain to the individual members of that association or other body;
being a debit made in relation to a transaction or transactions carried out by or on behalf of the institution, hospital, university, college or school, as the case may be, wholly and exclusively in furtherance of its objects;
(via) a society, institution or organization that has been established, and is carried on, wholly and exclusively for the purpose of raising money for, or otherwise promoting the interests of, a specified institution, hospital, university, college or school referred to in subparagraph (vi), being a debit made in relation to a transaction or transactions carried out by or on behalf of that society, institution or organization wholly and exclusively in furtherance of its objects;
(vii) any of the following:
(A) a Department of the Government of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory;
(B) an authority of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory;
(C) a municipal corporation or other local governing body;
other than such a Department, authority, corporation or body the sole or principal function of which is to carry on an activity in the nature of a business (whether or not for profit), not being a debit made in relation to a transaction or transactions entered into by or on behalf of the Department, authority, corporation or body in connection with the carrying on of an activity (other than an activity that forms a minor or insignificant part of the functions of the Department, authority, corporation or body) in the nature of a business (whether or not for profit); or
(viii) an authority of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory that is prescribed for the purposes of this subparagraph;
(b) made to an account kept with a financial institution (in this paragraph called the account keeping institution) in the name of another financial institution (in this paragraph called the account holding institution) where:
(i) either of the following conditions is satisfied:
(A) the business carried on by the account holding institution in Australia consists wholly or principally of banking business;
(B) all debits made, or to be made, to the account are in connection with banking business carried on by the account holding institution in Australia; and
(ii) the debit is not in connection with a cheque drawn on the account keeping institution by the account holding institution where the cheque was, at a time when it was incomplete, delivered by the account holding institution to a customer under an agreement under which the customer was authorised to fill up the cheque;
(c) the tax in respect of which cannot be recovered from the account holder or account holders by the financial institution with which the account is kept; or
(d) that is included in a kind or class of debits that are prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph.