25 In submissions, Mesha Feet characterised the original version of the Statement of Account issued by the ATO dated 30 May 2023 as an "offer" to contract with the company, and which was not marked "not negotiable", thereby freeing Mr Togbui to mark it up and send it back, as he did. Mesha Feet characterised the "Bill of Exchange" sent with this document as consideration for it. Mesha Feet contended that the ATO had thereby contracted to accept the "Bill of Exchange" in full discharge of the 2022 tax debt.
26 The ATO issued a Statement of Account dated 27 June 2023, which showed that the two tax debts (less the $48.86 from the banked cheque and an internal transfer from an integrated client account) remained outstanding.
27 Mesha Feet again followed up with some further correspondence. It issued a letter dated 18 July 2023, headed "Default Notice and Demand for Further and Better Particulars and Notice and Demand for Payment of Debt". It demanded a response to various questions and made the same self-serving suggestions as earlier correspondence as to the consequences of a failure by the ATO to respond. It attached an invoice issued by Mesha Feet to the ATO for $187,473.00 said to be owed by the ATO in respect of a "default" occasioned by the failure to acknowledge the "Bill of Exchange" as full and final payment of the tax liability.
28 Mesha Feet issued a further letter headed "Final Notice and Demand for Further and Better Particulars and Notice of Default for Payment of Debt", dated 15 August 2023. More self-serving statements were made about the consequences of the ATO's failure to respond. A "Default Notice", in the form of another copy of the $187,473.00 invoice was also issued.
29 A letter headed "Notice of Default Judgement [sic] and Final Notice for Payment of Debt" dated 15 September 2023 was issued to the ATO, again with self-serving statements as to deemed admissions, along with a further copy of the invoice issued by Mesha Feet to the ATO, this time labelled "Final Notice".
The parties' arguments
30 The Defendant submitted that the means by which tax related liabilities can be discharged are specified by reg 21 of the Taxation Administration Regulations 2017 (Cth) (the Regulations).
31 Section 16A(2) of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth) (the TAA) provides that "[t]he regulations may make provision for and in relation to the methods by which the amount of the liability may be paid".
