Northern Territory Consolidated Acts(1) Subject to the Regulations, a person who expends money before 1 July 2003 on work carried out in the Territory in relation to the exploration for, or the determining of the existence, location, extent or quality of, a mineral occurrence in the Territory after the commencement of this Act may, within 6 months after the end of a period, not exceeding 12 months, during which the expenditure occurred, apply to the Secretary for the issue to the person of an exploration expenditure certificate in respect of that expenditure.
(2) An application under subsection (1) shall be in an approved form and be accompanied by such information as the Secretary thinks necessary to enable him or her to determine whether the expenditure is expenditure to which this section applies, and shall be verified by a statutory declaration by the applicant and accompanied by a statement in writing from an approved auditor giving his or her opinion as to whether or not the expenditure to which this section applies.
(3) Within 30 days after the Secretary is satisfied that an applicant has undertaken expenditure to which this section applies, the Secretary shall issue to the applicant a certificate in respect of that expenditure or so much of that expenditure as has not previously been taken into account in an assessment under section 18.
(4) A certificate issued under subsection (2) may be transferred to any person upon notice of its proposed transfer being given in an approved form to the Secretary.
(5) The Secretary may, before or after the period expires, extend the period for making an application under subsection (1) for a further specified period (not exceeding 3 months) if satisfied that in all the circumstances it is reasonable to grant the extension.
(6) In calculating an amount of expenditure for the purposes of this section, subject to subsection (7), an amount or value that affects the calculation is to be taken to be the amount or value exclusive of the amount of GST (if any) payable in relation to a supply to which that amount or value relates.
(7) Where an amount or value that affects the calculation referred to in subsection (6) is directly attributable to an acquisition that relates to a supply that is input taxed, the amount or value is to be taken to be the amount or value inclusive of the amount of GST (if any) payable in relation to the acquisition to which that amount or value relates.
(8) In subsections (6) and (7), "acquisition", GST , input taxed and supply have the same respective meanings as in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 of the Commonwealth.