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Part A

Office Haven is a retail store that specialises in selling office furniture. Commercial Office as a wholesaler of office furniture. In February $2023$ the two companies signed a contract. Commercial Office Furnishings agreed to supply office furniture to Office Haven for a three$-$year period. The contract included a schedule detailing the prices for various products. Commercial Office Furnishings was Office Haven's sole supplier of office furniture. The office furniture provided customers low$-$cost options.

In September $2023,$ Commercial Office Furnishings faced a significant increase in costs due to a combination of rising transportation costs and higher prices charged by manufacturers. Consequently, Commercial Office Furnishings terminated the contract and paid Office Haven a lump sum of $$2$ million in connection with the cancellation of the contract. Following the cancellation of the contract, Office Haven purchased office furniture from alternative suppliers but at a higher cost. This office furniture did not appeal to the same type of customers.

Required: Imagine you are a registered tax agent and that Office Haven come to you for advice. Advise Office Haven as to whether the $$2$ million should be regarded as assessable income. Focus on advising Office Haven about this taxation law issue alone. Do not consider other legal issues such as contract law issues. Refer to relevant case law and the Income Tax Assessment Act $1997$ in your answer.

Please do not refer to legislation other than the Income Tax Assessment Act $1997.$ Also, do not consider residency and source issues. State any assumptions you make, and if your answer requires further information from Office Haven, state precisely what information this is and why it is required. Providing irrelevant detail and lengthy references to facts without attempting to analyse the scenario from a tax law perspective will not be looked at favourably.

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