Sage pursues review in tax dispute

Mining entrepreneur Tony Sage is continuing to appeal a tribunal decision that refused him access to documents he claimed could be relevant to his tax audit.

Mr Sage last year lodged an application for judicial review in the Federal Court of Australia’s Western Australian registry, naming the commissioner of taxation, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, and the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police as respondents.

In November, the tribunal refused Mr Sage’s request to access the documents he claimed the commissioner of taxation had during the audit of his finances that led to penalty assessments.

In the Federal Court application obtained by Business News, Mr Sage said he was aggrieved by the tribunal decision to refuse document access, claiming it involved an error of law.

Federal Court Justice Craig Colvin today repeatedly questioned Mr Sage’s lawyer Chris Peadon, who spent the morning of the hearing detailing his client’s claims.

“It’s a review application, I’m not here to go through what the tribunal did,” Justice Colvin said in court.

"This is a review proceeding. How does paragraph 20 connect to a review proceedings?

“I’m trying to move things along. So far, I’ve been taken to every paragraph."

Justice Colvin also pushed back against Mr Peadon's suggestion that he was trying to provide context to the legal matter.

“I’ve indicated that I’ve read the [tribunal] decision," he told the court.

Business News understands that judgment has been reserved.

The commissioner of taxation issued penalty assessments for Mr Sage’s income from 2006–2013 after conducting a covert audit prompted by a referral from the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce.

According to the tribunal decision in November, the commissioner made allegations of fraud or tax evasion.

Mr Sage revealed his identity as the applicant in the previous tribunal ruling after lodging the Federal Court application for judicial review.

The applicant was described as a director of a company that was trustee for his family trust, and a director of several companies in the mining industry.

According to the tribunal decision, the applicant's bank accounts indicated that his lifestyle was funded by a number of sources including credit cards that were predominantly paid by funds from the trustee company or mining companies.

Mr Sage sought to access the legal advice and documents the commissioner had, claiming them to be relevant for the tribunal for the final hearing stage, the decision said.

The other documents include the ones provided by the Australian Crime Commission and the taskforce.

In the Federal Court application, Mr Sage is seeking an order to quash or set aside the tribunal decision to refuse access, with the documents in question to be classified as relevant.

Mr Sage is an executive director and chair of Cyclone Metals, chair of European Lithium and the former owner of Perth Glory.