The tax man has slammed the door on the Avon lady.
The High Court unanimously sided with the Australian Tax Office in a six-year case involving the company that sells perfumes and toiletries door to door.
Avon had argued it was owed more than $3.6 million for sales tax that it paid between March 1993 and August 1999.
The company had received a sales tax private binding ruling from the tax office. That ruling effectively found Avon had paid more in sales tax than it should have in the six years up to 1999.
There was no argument that $3.6 million had been overpaid, but the focus was whether the tax office should return it to Avon.
The tax office ruled that as Avon had made a profit on its sales, including with the tax, and that it had not refunded the overpaid tax to its customers, then the company did not qualify to get the money back.
The High Court sided with the tax office.
It ruled that the company had failed to show any error in law in the way the case had been dealt with by the Federal Court.
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