The taxpayers had, for 10 years, managed a successful restaurant. In October 2019, the taxpayers incorporated a company and registered for an Australian Business Number (ABN) and purchased the restaurant from the former owners with ownership to commence on 31 January 2020. In December 2019, the company executed a lease for the restaurant’s premises to commence when it took over the business. The restaurant’s operations continued seamlessly and the company registered to report GST on a quarterly basis as had always been done.  

In 2020, the company applied for access to Boosting Cash Flow (BCF) payments to support it through the COVID-19 pandemic. The ATO initially rejected the company’s eligibility to BCF on the grounds that the company could not have lodged a GST return for the quarter ended 31 December 2019 as its business commenced operation after 1 January 2020.  

The IGTO commenced an investigation and, as a result of which, the ATO agreed to undertake an internal review of the matter. The internal review found that in November 2019, the company had opened a bank account for the new business, which constituted a taxable supply for consideration for the purposes of the BCF. Accordingly, the Commissioner’s discretion was exercised in this case to allow the company later time to provide notice of a taxable supply, resulting in the company obtaining access to BCF.