177AHow to apply serious hardship provisions

1. Subsections (2), (3), and (4) provide the rules for the Commissioner to decide (the decision) whether,—

2. for the purposes of section 176, recovery of outstanding tax would place a taxpayer, being a natural person, in serious hardship:
3. for the purposes of section 177, the Commissioner may accept the taxpayer's request for financial relief on the basis of a claim that recovery of the taxpayer's outstanding tax or a relief company's outstanding tax would place the taxpayer, being a natural person, in serious hardship:
4. for the purposes of section 177B, an instalment arrangement entered into by a taxpayer or a relief company would place the taxpayer, being a natural person, in serious hardship:
5. for the purposes of section 177C, recovery of the outstanding tax would place the taxpayer, being a natural person, in serious hardship.

6. The Commissioner makes a decision under this section by determining whether financial information, after allowing for payment of a relevant amount of outstanding tax, and subject to subsections (3) and (4), shows that the taxpayer would, after the request under section 177 (the request), likely have significant financial difficulties because, after the request,—

7. the taxpayer or their dependant has a serious illness:
8. the taxpayer would likely be unable to meet—
   1. minimum living expenses estimated according to normal community standards of cost and quality:
   2. the cost of medical treatment for an illness or injury of the taxpayer, or of their dependant:
   3. the cost of education for their dependant:
9. other factors that the Commissioner thinks relevant would likely arise.

10. Compliance with, and non-compliance with, tax obligations must not be considered by the Commissioner when making a decision under this section.

11. The Commissioner must use only financial information that the Commissioner has at the date on which the decision is made.