Legal news
The recent Supreme Court of Victoria decision of Lotus Oaks Pty Ltd as trustee for the Bozzo Family Trust v Commissioner of State Revenue [2021] VSC 388 is significant as it provides further clarification on the application of the primary production land tax exemption for land located in greater Melbourne in an urban zone. This is part one in a series of three articles on this decision.
Part 2 of our series decision of Lotus Oaks Pty Ltd as trustee for the Bozzo Family Trust v Commissioner of State Revenue [2021] VSC 388 looks at the former requirement in section 67 of the Land Tax Act 2005 (Vic) (Act) which required the principal business of the Bozzo FT to be of the type carried on on the subject land.
This final part of our 3 part series on the Lotus Oaks Pty Ltd as trustee for the Bozzo Family Trust v Commissioner of State Revenue [2021] VSC 388 decision looks at the substantially full-time engagement requirement in section 67 of the Act.
The Victorian State Budget for the 2021-2022 year brings with it particularly broad-ranging state taxation measures that will impact a diverse cross-section of the Victorian community. The changes include increased land tax and transfer (stamp) duty rates as well as new tax measures such as the windfall gain tax on rezoned land and a mental health and wellbeing levy (payroll tax surcharge).
Many state and federal taxing provisions provide different tax outcomes on the trustees of trusts depending on what type of trust is involved. One example of this is contained in the NSW land tax rules which provides for a land tax surcharge on unit trusts that are “special trusts” rather than “fixed trusts”.
Many states now have foreign land tax surcharges that apply to foreign persons including trustee of foreign trusts. As a result many trustees will consider amending their trust deeds to ensure that they don’t inadvertently trigger such surcharges.
State and territory revenue offices made land tax and payroll tax measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We outlined a summary of the measures as at 1 September 2020 here.
In April 2020 we reported on Land Tax and Payroll Tax measures state and territory revenue offices made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the ramifications of COVID-19 continue to affect Australians, these measures have since been extended and new measures announced.
As referred to in our previous articles, the State Revenue Legislation Further Amendment Bill 2020 (NSW) has now received royal assent on 24 June 2020.
As outlined in our previous article, the State Revenue Further Amendment Bill 2019 (NSW) was introduced to NSW Legislative Assembly on Tuesday 22 October 2019, and proposed to make changes to New South Wales land tax and duty legislation.
As outlined in our previous article, under the proposed changes to New South Wales land tax and duty legislation, a trustee of a discretionary trust (including testamentary trusts) will be deemed to be a “foreign trust” if the terms of the trust do not prevent a foreign person from being a beneficiary of the discretionary trust. Importantly, these changes are proposed to have retrospective effect to the 2017, 2018 and 2019 land tax years and can catch dutiable transactions back to 21 June 2016.
Primary producers in Melbourne will soon be faced with a greater likelihood of paying land tax on their farms due to the proposed reform, and narrowing, of the primary production land tax exemption as proposed in the State Taxation Acts Further Amendment Bill 2019.
The State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2019 (Vic) has received royal assent on 18 June 2019. Following this, the measures outlined below will take effect from 19 June 2019
As set out in the recent controversial Victorian Budget, the State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2019 (Vic) contains amendments directly impacting any foreign persons or entities holding Victorian properties.
