(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
Agent includes every person who in Australia, for or on behalf of any person out of Australia (in this section called the principal), holds or has the management or control of the business of his principal, and every person declared by the Commissioner to be an agent or the sole agent for any person for the purposes of this Act.
aircraft means a machine or apparatus that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air or from buoyancy.
Arrangement means any arrangement, agreement or understanding:
(a) whether formal or informal;
(b) whether express or implied; or
(c) whether or not enforceable, or intended to be enforceable, by legal proceedings.
assessment means:
(a) the ascertainment of the sale value of goods and of the sales tax payable on that sale value; or
(b) the ascertainment of additional tax payable under Part VIII.
Australia does not include:
(a) the Territory of Christmas Island; or
(b) the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
Australian fishing zone:
(a) in relation to Australia, means waters having as their inner limits the base lines by reference to which the territorial limits of Australia are determined under international law and as their outer limits the line that, at every point, is 200 nautical miles from the nearest point on one of those base lines; or
(b) in relation to the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands and the Coral Sea Islands Territory, waters having as their inner limits the base lines by reference to which the territorial limits of those Territories are determined under international law and as their outer limits lines that, at every point, are 200 nautical miles from the nearest point on one of those base lines.
Australian installation means an installation that is deemed to be part of Australia by virtue of this Act.
Australian seabed means the seabed beneath Australian waters.
Australian waters means:
(a) waters within so much of the areas described in Schedule 2 to the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 and the Coral Sea area as are either:
(i) within the Australian fishing zone; or
(ii) outside that zone but within the outer limits of the continental shelf of Australia; and
(b) waters on the landward side of those waters, but does not include waters of a port or harbour or waters over which, under an agreement in force between Australia and another country, Australia does not exercise sovereign rights.
Certificate means a certificate of registration under this Act.
Company includes all bodies or associations corporate or unincorporate, but does not include partnerships.
Computer program has the same meaning as in the Copyright Act 1968.
Construction, in relation to a swimming pool, means:
(a) the construction or erection of the walls and floor of the swimming pool wholly or principally from concrete, concrete blocks, sand, bricks, metal, timber or other prescribed material to form the shell or container;
(b) the construction or installation of the coping for the swimming pool; or
(c) the painting, tiling, waterproofing or other treating or finishing of the surface of the walls, floor and coping of the swimming pool;
but does not include:
(d) the installation, in connection with the swimming pool, of drainage, heating, lighting, power supply, water supply, filtering or pumping equipment; or
(e) the undertaking of excavation or other earthworks or the clearing, levelling or landscaping of land in connection with the construction of the swimming pool.
Continental Shelf has the same meaning as in the Convention on the Continental Shelf, being the convention a copy of which in the English language is set out in Schedule 1 to the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967.
Coral Sea area has the same meaning as in the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967.
CPI quarter means a period of 3 months ending on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September or 31 December.
Deputy Commissioner means a Deputy Commissioner of Taxation.
environment related activity means any activity relating to:
(a) tourism or recreation;
(b) the carrying on of a business;
(c) exploring, exploiting or using the living resources of the sea, of the seabed or of the subsoil of the seabed, whether by way of fishing, pearling, oyster farming, fish farming or otherwise;
(d) marine archaeology; or
(e) a prescribed purpose;
and includes a scientific activity and a transport activity.
excluded dumping vessel means any vessel that is engaged in a sea voyage or in any activity at sea relating solely to the dumping at sea or to the incineration at sea of waste or other matter which the vessel is authorised to dump or incinerate under the Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981.
excluded fishing installation means:
(a) a licensed fishing boat that is being used solely for commercial fishing purposes;
(b) a fish aggregating device that is being used solely for commercial fishing purposes;
(c) a mariculture platform that is being used solely for the purpose of rearing and harvesting fish, crustaceans or molluscs; or
(d) fishing equipment.
excluded pearling vessel means any vessel that is licensed under the law of a State or Territory to carry out pearling operations and that is being used solely for the purpose of carrying out those operations.
excluded wreck means:
(a) an historic shipwreck, or an historic relic, within the meaning of the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976; or
(b) any other wreck within the meaning of section 294 of the Navigation Act 1912 to which the provisions of Part VII of that Act apply or would apply but for the operation of section 295B of that Act.
Goods includes commodities, but does not include:
(a) goods which have, either through a process of retailing or otherwise, gone into use or consumption in Australia; or
(b) goods which are sold as second‑hand goods and are manufactured exclusively or principally from goods which:
(i) have, whether alone or as parts of other goods, gone into use or consumption in Australia; and
(ii) in the opinion of the Commissioner, in their condition as parts of the goods so manufactured, retain their character as goods or parts of goods which have gone into use or consumption in Australia;
For the purposes of this definition a container, which is used for the first time in Australia in the marketing or delivery of goods, shall not, by reason of that use, be deemed to have gone into use or consumption in Australia until the goods for the marketing or delivery of which the container has been so used have been removed therefrom for use, sale or other disposition separately from the container.
installation means:
(a) a sea installation;
(b) an off‑shore industry fixed structure; or
(c) an off‑shore industry mobile unit.
Liquidator means the person who, whether or not appointed as liquidator, is the person required by law to carry out the winding‑up of a company.
Manufacture includes:
(a) production;
(b) the combination of parts or ingredients whereby an article or substance is formed that is commercially distinct from those parts or ingredients;
(c) any treatment applied to foodstuffs as a process in the preparation of the foodstuffs for human consumption;
(d) the processing or treatment of exposed photographic or cinematographic film to produce a negative, transparency or film strip;
(e) the copying or reproduction of a computer program, whether with or without related information and whether in the same material form or in a different material form, or the conversion of a computer program to another language, code or notation, so as to embody the computer program in goods (including goods and commodities of the kind referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of Goods); and
(f) the copying or reproduction of visual images or sounds, or visual images and sounds so as to embody the images or sounds, or images and sounds, as the case may be, (whether in the same material form or in a different material form) in goods (including goods and commodities of the kind referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of Goods);
but does not include:
(g) a combination falling within paragraph (b) (other than a combination whereby a prescribed article or substance is formed) if, in the opinion of the Commissioner, the combination is of a kind that is customarily undertaken by persons who use the articles or substances formed by combinations of that kind for the purposes for which the articles or substances are intended to be ultimately used; or
(h) the copying or reproduction of a computer program, whether with or without related information and whether in the same material form or in a different material form, or the conversion of a computer program to another language, code or notation, so as to embody the program (not being the embodying of the program in a microchip) in goods, by a person who is not the manufacturer of the goods in which the program is to be embodied where:
(i) the person or another person has paid or is liable to pay tax on a sale value of the goods in which the program is to be embodied in respect of some prior act, operation or transaction in relation to the goods; and
(ii) the goods in which the program is embodied are to be for sale by the first‑mentioned person by retail otherwise than under a contract of the kind referred to in subsection (4) or under an indirect marketing arrangement.
Manufacturer means a person who engages, whether exclusively or not, in the manufacture of goods, and includes a printer, publisher, lithographer or engraver, and a person (not being an employee) who manufactures goods, whether or not the materials out of which the goods are manufactured are owned by him, but, where one person manufactures goods for another, wholly or in part out of materials supplied by that other, and the goods are not for the use of, but are for sale by, that other, the person supplying the materials shall be deemed to be the manufacturer, and the person who so manufactures the goods shall be deemed not to be the manufacturer.
Material form, in relation to visual images or sounds, or visual images and sounds, or a computer program, includes any form (whether visible or not) of storage from which the images or sounds, or images and sounds, or the computer program, as the case may be, can be reproduced.
monthly remitter, in relation to a month, means a person who is not a quarterly remitter in relation to the sales tax quarter in which the month occurs.
Natural resources means the mineral and other non‑living resources of the seabed and its subsoil.
Overseas installation means an installation that:
(a) is in Australian waters; and
(b) has been brought into Australian waters from a place outside the outer limits of Australian waters;
but does not include an Australian installation.
Person includes a company.
quarterly remitter has the meaning given by subsection 3D(1).
Registered person means a manufacturer or wholesale merchant who is registered under this Act.
Sale of goods by wholesale includes:
(i) a sale of goods to a person who buys the goods for the purpose of resale or for supply to some other person in the circumstances specified in subsection (4); and
(iii) a sale of goods to a manufacturer (whether or not he is required to be registered in accordance with the provisions of this Act) to be used in wrought into or attached to goods to be manufactured by him;
but, notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this definition, does not include:
(b) the sale of goods, by a retailer, whether or not at a discount from the retail selling price, for the accommodation of the purchaser owing to temporary shortage of stock of the purchaser such goods being of a kind usually manufactured by the purchaser or usually purchased by him from a manufacturer or wholesale merchant for sale;
(c) the sale of goods by a retailer on cash orders issued by firms or persons carrying on the business of issuing cash orders authorizing or requesting goods to be supplied to the holders of such cash orders;
(d) the sale whether for cash or on credit, and whether at a discount from the retail selling price or not, of goods of a kind used in the construction and repair of and wrought into or attached to so as to form part of buildings, unless such goods are sold to a person (not being a person who buys goods for supply to some other person in the circumstances specified in subsection (4)) who buys the goods for the purpose of resale;
(e) the sale by a retailer, whether for cash or on credit, and whether at a discount from the retail selling price or not, of goods of a kind used in the manufacture of and wrought into or attached to clothes for human wear, if the sale is made to a person whose principal business is the manufacture of articles of human wear to the order of individual customers;
(f) the supply of goods by a person to some other person in the circumstances specified in subsection (4); and
(g) the sale of school requisites or sporting equipment by a retailer to school authorities or school teachers for resale to students or the sale of sporting equipment by a retailer to sporting clubs for resale to members of those clubs;
and any sale or supply of goods as specified in paragraph (b), (c), (d), (e), (f) or (g) shall be deemed to be a sale of goods by retail;
For the purposes of this definition retailer means a person whose sales of goods (not including sales to which paragraphs (b), (c), (e) or (g) applies) are, in the opinion of the Commissioner, made principally by retail and sale of goods by a retailer means a sale of goods from stock in a retail store or a retail section of the store.
sales tax quarter means a period of 3 months ending on 31 July, 31 October, 31 January or 30 April.
scientific activity means an activity relating to scientific research.
sea installation means:
(a) any man‑made structure that, when in, or brought into, physical contact with the seabed or when floating, can be used for an environment related activity;
(b) any partly constructed structure that, when completed, is intended to be, or could be, a structure referred to in paragraph (a); or
(c) the remains of a structure that has been a structure referred to in paragraph (a) or (b);
but does not include:
(d) a cargo ship within the meaning of Part IV of the Navigation Act 1912;
(e) an excluded dumping vessel;
(f) an excluded fishing installation;
(g) an excluded pearling vessel;
(h) an excluded wreck;
(j) a navigational aid placed in the sea or on the seabed in accordance with the law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory;
(k) an off‑shore industry fixed structure;
(m) an off‑shore industry mobile unit;
(n) a structure relating to the defence of Australia;
(p) a submarine cable installation;
(q) a structure belonging to the naval, military or air forces of a foreign country; or
(r) a prescribed structure or a structure in a class of prescribed structures.
Second Commissioner means a Second Commissioner of Taxation.
ship means a vessel designed for use in navigation by water.
structure includes a ship, an aircraft and any other vessel.
submarine cable installation means:
(a) a cable that has been laid on the seabed to permit telecommunications between a place in Australia and a place outside Australia; or
(b) a vessel having the function of installing or servicing such a cable while that vessel is engaged in any activity relating to that function.
Swimming pool includes a spa pool or hot tub.
Taxpayer means a person chargeable with sales tax under this Act.
the Commissioner means the Commissioner of Taxation.
this Act includes Part IVC of the Taxation Administration Act 1953, insofar as that Part relates to this Act.
transport activity means:
(a) the mooring of ships or aircraft; or
(b) the landing of aircraft.
Tribunal means the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Trustee, in addition to every person appointed or constituted trustee by act of parties, by order or declaration of a court, or by operation of law, includes:
(a) an executor or administrator, guardian, committee, receiver or liquidator; and
(b) every person having or taking upon himself the administration or control of goods affected by any express or implied trust, or acting in any fiduciary capacity, or having the possession, control or management of the goods of a person under any legal or other disability.
Unregistered person means a person who is not registered under this Act.
Wholesale Merchant means:
(a) a person who engages, whether exclusively or not, in the sale of goods by wholesale, and includes:
(i) a trustee in whom the ownership of the business of any wholesale merchant or manufacturer becomes vested, or who becomes entitled to the possession, management or control of that business or of the goods of that business, and who sells those goods, whether in the course of carrying on or in the course of winding‑up or realizing that business;
(ii) a person who, notwithstanding that the person manufactures goods for another person, is, pursuant to the definition of Manufacturer, deemed not to be the manufacturer of the goods; and
(iii) a person who applies any process or treatment to goods which are:
(A) to be used in, wrought into or attached to goods to be manufactured by a manufacturer;
(B) supplied to the person by the manufacturer of those goods for the purpose of having them brought into the form or condition in which they are to be marketed or used or further processed or treated by the manufacturer; or
(C) to be exported from Australia and which are to be used in, wrought into or attached to goods to be manufactured outside Australia; or
(b) a person who sells goods under an indirect marketing arrangement.
(1A) For the purposes of the application of this Act in relation to goods in which visual images or sounds, or visual images and sounds have, or a computer program has, been embodied, the reference in the definition of Manufacturer in subsection (1) to materials supplied by a person to another person shall be read as including a reference to the person making available visual images or sounds, or visual images and sounds, or a computer program, for the purposes of enabling those images or sounds, or those images and sounds, as the case may be, to be copied or reproduced, or that computer program to be copied or reproduced or converted to another language, code or notation, by that other person so as to be embodied in those goods.
(1B) For the purposes of this Act, visual images or sounds, or visual images and sounds, or a computer program shall be taken to have been embodied in goods if the goods have been so treated in relation to those images or sounds, or those images and sounds, as the case may be, or that computer program that those images or sounds, or those images and sounds, as the case may be, are, or that computer program is, with or without the aid of some other device, capable of being reproduced from the goods.
(1C) Where a swimming pool is constructed in situ, and the construction (including any action mentioned in paragraph (e) of the definition of Construction in subsection (1)) commences after 19 August 1986, and:
(a) the person who constructs the swimming pool does so wholly or partly in the course of carrying on a business; or
(b) the person who constructs the swimming pool does so exclusively or principally for the use of the person otherwise than in the course of carrying on a business and the whole, or a principal part, of the labour used in the construction is provided by persons who provide their labour otherwise than voluntarily and without remuneration;
then, for the purposes of this Act (other than subsection 17(2) and section 17A):
(c) so much of the swimming pool as is so constructed shall be deemed to be manufactured goods;
(d) the construction shall be deemed to be the manufacture of the goods;
(e) the person who constructs the swimming pool shall be deemed to be the manufacturer of the goods;
(f) if, at the time when the construction is completed, the manufacturer does not (whether alone or jointly with any other person or persons) have the right of exclusive occupation of the land on which the swimming pool is situated, the goods shall be deemed to be sold by retail at that time by the manufacturer to an unregistered person; and
(g) if paragraph (f) does not apply—the goods shall be deemed to be, at the time when the construction is completed, applied to the manufacturer’s own use.
(1D) For the purposes of paragraph (1C)(b), where a swimming pool is constructed by a person and that person works on the construction, the person shall be deemed to provide his or her labour voluntarily and without remuneration.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), a person shall, for the purposes of this Act (except Part III), be taken to quote his certificate when he quotes his certificate in the manner referred to in subsection 12(1).
(3) Where a person purports to quote a certificate to another person, and the other person has reasonable grounds to believe that:
(a) the first‑mentioned person:
(i) is not a registered person;
(ii) is quoting the certificate otherwise than in accordance with subsection 12(1); or
(iii) is prohibited, by virtue of a notice issued under subsection 15A(1), from quoting the certificate;
(b) the quotation:
(i) is false or misleading in a material particular; or
(ii) omits any matter or thing without which the quotation is misleading in a material particular; or
(c) the Commissioner has published or provided information relating to the certificate under section 16A;
the first‑mentioned person shall, for the purposes of this Act (except Part III), be deemed not to have quoted his certificate.
(3A) Where goods to which section 18B would apply if the goods were sold by a person to another person are given by the first‑mentioned person to the other person, then, for the purposes of this Act, the first‑mentioned person shall be deemed to have sold the goods to the other person.
(4) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be deemed to have sold goods if, in the performance of any contract (not being a contract for the sale of goods) under which he has received, or is entitled to receive, valuable consideration, he supplies goods the property in which (whether as goods or in some other form) passes, under the terms of the contract, to some other person.
(4A) A reference in this Act to a person selling goods under an indirect marketing arrangement is a reference to a person (in this subsection referred to as the vendor), who is not the manufacturer of the goods, selling goods by retail:
(a) under an arrangement that provides, directly or indirectly, for the sale of goods (whether ascertained or not) by the vendor through another person acting for and on behalf of the vendor, whether in the name of the vendor or in any other name, but not being an employee of the vendor; or
(b) from premises that:
(i) are used principally for the sale of goods by retail by any other person or persons; and
(ii) are held out to be premises of, or used by, the other person or persons.
(5) Where a sale and purchase, for one inclusive price, is made of goods upon the sale value of which sales tax is payable at a particular rate together with goods upon the sale value of which sales tax is payable at some other rate or is not payable, the respective amounts for which the goods are sold and purchased shall be deemed to be the amounts which, in the opinion of the Commissioner, would have been the sale prices of those goods if sold separately.
(6) For the purposes of subsection (5), goods (in so far as that word refers to goods upon the sale value of which sales tax is not payable) shall include any property on which sales tax is not payable.
(7) Any person who, at any time, ceases to be a manufacturer or wholesale merchant shall be deemed to continue to be a manufacturer or a wholesale merchant (as the case may be) until he has:
(a) sold;
(b) treated as stock for sale by retail;
(c) applied to his own use; or
(d) leased;
the goods held in stock by him at that time or until the Commissioner is satisfied that none of those goods will become the subject of any transaction, act or operation specified in this subsection.
(8) Where a person manufactures goods of the kind covered by paragraph (b) of the definition of Goods partly out of materials which have not gone into use or consumption in Australia, that person shall, in the manufacture of those goods, be deemed to have applied those materials to his own use.
(9) A reference in this Act to an off‑shore industry fixed structure shall be read as a reference to a structure (including a pipeline) that:
(a) is not able to move or be moved as an entity from one place to another; and
(b) is used or is to be used off‑shore in or in any operations or activities associated with, or incidental to, exploring or exploiting natural resources.
(10) A reference in this Act to an off‑shore industry mobile unit shall be read as a reference to:
(a) a vessel that is used or is to be used wholly or principally in:
(i) exploring or exploiting natural resources by drilling the seabed or its subsoil with equipment on or forming part of the vessel or by obtaining substantial quantities of material from the seabed or its subsoil with equipment of that kind; or
(ii) operations or activities associated with, or incidental to, activities of the kind referred to in subparagraph (i); or
(b) a structure (not being a vessel) that:
(i) is able to float or be floated;
(ii) is able to move or be moved as an entity from one place to another; and
(iii) is used or is to be used off‑shore wholly or principally in:
(A) exploring or exploiting natural resources by drilling the seabed or its subsoil with equipment on or forming part of the structure or by obtaining substantial quantities of material from the seabed or its subsoil with equipment of that kind; or
(B) operations or activities associated with, or incidental to, activities of the kind referred to in sub-subparagraph (A).
(11) A vessel of a kind referred to in paragraph (10)(a) or a structure of a kind referred to in paragraph (10)(b) shall not be taken not to be an off‑shore industry mobile unit by reason only that the vessel or structure is also used or to be used in, or in any operations or activities associated with, or incidental to, exploring or exploiting resources other than natural resources.
(12) A reference in this Act to an off‑shore industry mobile unit or to a sea installation does not include a reference to a vessel that is used, or is to be used, wholly or principally in:
(a) transporting persons or goods to or from an installation; or
(b) manoeuvring an installation, or in operations relating to the attachment of an installation to the Australian seabed.
(13) A reference in this Act to a computer program embodied in a microchip does not include a computer program embodied in a microchip in a cartridge where:
(a) the program is marketed as being exclusively for educational use, entertainment use or educational and entertainment use; and
(b) the cartridge is marketed as being exclusively for use with:
(i) a personal computer; or
(ii) a home electronic device that is for use with a computer monitor or a television screen; or
(iii) either a personal computer or such a device.
(14) In subsection (13), home electronic device does not include a device that consists of or includes one or more of the following:
(a) a compact disc player;
(b) a television;
(c) a video camera;
(d) a video cassette player;
(e) a video cassette recorder;
(f) another electronic device prescribed by the regulations.
(15) Where:
(a) disregarding:
(i) this subsection; and
(ii) anything to the same effect in any other Act relating to the imposition, assessment and collection of a tax upon the sale value of goods; and
(iii) subsection 3(8) of the Sales Tax (Exemptions and Classifications) Act 1935;
goods (in this subsection called the item 51/54 goods) are covered by item 51 or 54 in the First Schedule to the last‑mentioned Act; and
(b) any one or more of the following subparagraphs applies to any part (in this subsection called an insert) of the item 51/54 goods:
(i) it has a different sheet size than most of the remainder of the goods;
(ii) it is printed by a different process than most of the remainder of the goods;
(iii) it consists of different paper or other material than most of the remainder of the goods;
(iv) it is inserted separately into the remainder of the goods after they have been made; and
(c) if the item 51/54 goods are a magazine or similar publication (other than a newspaper)—the insert is not a detachable part that is attached by perforation, or glued, sewn or stapled, to the remainder of the goods; and
(d) if the item 51/54 goods are a newspaper—the insert is not a news, sport, entertainment, travel, leisure or similar section (other than an advertising section);
then, for the purposes of this Act, the insert is taken not to be, and never to have been, part of the item 51/54 goods, but to be, and always to have been, separate goods.