Revenue Nsw Surcharge Duty
The nsw state budget includes two changes to transfer duty that will take effect from 1 july 2019.
Revenue nsw surcharge duty. The incentive to obtain refunds for previously paid surcharge duty and land tax surcharge is only available if the trust deed is amended to prevent foreign persons from benefitting from the trust by 31 december 2020. The state revenue legislation further amendment act 2020 which came into effect in new south wales on 24 june 2020 includes changes to foreign person surcharges for purchaser duty and land tax relevant to discretionary trusts and residential land in nsw. State revenue legislation further amendment bill 2019 surcharge land tax on discretionary trusts the state revenue legislation further amendment act 2020 received assent on 24 june 2020. Annual indexation of transfer duty thresholds and surcharge duty exemptions for holders of a retirement visa subclass 405 or 410.
You may also have to pay surcharge purchaser duty on other types of transactions such as declaring a trust or transferring a lease. If you have already paid surcharge land tax or surcharge purchaser duty on the basis that you are a foreign trustee and if you amend your trust deed as above then you should seek a refund from revenue nsw. As a result of recent changes introduced by the state revenue legislation further amendment bill 2019 nsw discretionary trusts that either own or will own residential land in nsw will be deemed to be a foreign person and liable to pay surcharge purchaser duty of an additional 8 and surcharge land tax of an additional 2. The act amends the land tax act 1956 and the land tax management act 1956 to clarify that a trustee of a discretionary trust is a foreign person if the terms of the trust don t prevent a foreign person.
Amending the trust deed will have the benefit of saving time and costs in satisfying revenue nsw on its annual land tax surcharge audits. On 24 june 2020 the state revenue legislation further amendment act 2020 nsw received royal assent. This is known as surcharge purchaser duty and it s in addition to any transfer duty. Key takeaways review all discretionary trust deeds and amend it to satisfy the no foreign beneficiary requirement and no amendment requirement.
You must pay transfer duty once known as stamp duty in nsw when you buy. Surcharge purchaser duty applies to acquisitions of nsw residential land by foreign persons. It clarifies that a trustee of a discretionary trust owning residential property in nsw is taken to be a foreign person for foreign surcharges purposes if the trust does not irrevocably prevent a foreign person from being a beneficiary of the trust.