Bank of Queensland Limited v Commissioner of State Revenue (Review and Regulation List) [2013] VCAT 1966
This matter involved an objection to a decision of the Commissioner to group the Bank with its owner-managed branches (OMBs) because of the use of common employees under s. 9A of the 1971 Act and s. 71 of the 2007 Act.
The Commissioner decided the arrangements between the Bank and OMBs amounted to inter-use of employees. The Bank objected on the basis the arrangement was a franchise arrangement and the OMBs conducted their own business, separate from the Bank’s business, and should not be grouped.
The Tribunal set aside the Commissioner’s decision. In doing so, it found the arrangements between the Bank and the OMBs were franchise arrangements which gave rise to a common law agency arrangement. The Tribunal held a business is no less a business because it entailed the person or entity acting solely as agent, and that control in itself does not exclude the possibility that there is a separate business being conducted by the franchisee.
