Possible cause for reassessment
When a pensioner requests a reassessment of an entity's circumstances s/he must show just cause as to why this should occur. The following outlines a number of circumstances that may warrant a reassessment. However, this is not a definitive list. Each case will need to be examined on its merits.
Some of the circumstances that may warrant a reassessment are:
- a change in business operations conducted by the entity (see example 1),
- a change in the circumstances affecting a business operating in the industry or in the same geographical location (see example 2),
- a change to government regulations, policy or taxes which affect the business,
- a change in the overall economic climate,
- cessation of the business,
- commencement of a new business,
- business activities are not currently being conducted due to illness,
- amended Tax Assessment Notice, or
- withdrawal from a business.
Example 1
Example 1 could include:
- completion or expiry of a contract,
- loss of a contract,
- a major restructure of the business,
- sale of a business or part of the business operations,
- restructure of the financial position of the business,
- refinance or extension of the business liabilities.
Example 2
Example 2 could include:
- natural disasters e.g. drought, flood,
- significant change in commodity prices e.g. wool sales,
- significant change in the price of raw materials, stock or other imports utilised by the business e.g. minerals.
Example of reassessment due to business downturn
Pensioner A is the sole attributable stakeholder of a private company. He has been on an annual assessment cycle for 2 years but has requested a reassessment of his circumstances due to a severe downturn in business turnover. He provides all relevant documentation and the staff member decides to put Pensioner A on a 3 monthly reassessment cycle. Pensioners A's attribution period becomes the period of reassessment (3 months) and his derivation period is the current tax year.