New South Wales will abolish the following duties for transactions made on or after 1 July 2012:
- duty on transfers of shares and/or declaration of trusts over shares in a NSW company;
- duty on transfers of units in a NSW unit trust;
- duty on transfers of NSW business assets other than land and/or declaration of trusts over NSW business assets other than land; and
- duty on mortgages over NSW property.
The abolition will bring the NSW duty regime into line with the Victorian duty regime where generally only land transfers, declarations of trusts and significant acquisitions of shares or units in NSW land holder entities will be subject to duty.
However, unlike Victoria, the due date for payment of NSW duty will remain at three months from the date of the dutiable transaction or relevant acquisition.
Anti-avoidance measures for NSW duty being abolished
The Government has implemented measures to prevent avoidance of duty arising from the abolition of the above duties
These measures provide that transfers of NSW business assets other than land and/or declaration of trusts over NSW business assets other than land entered into after 1 July 2012 will continue to be dutiable if the transaction was entered into pursuant to:
- an option granted before 1 July 2012; or
- another arrangement made before 1 July 2012 in which the main or only purpose of the arrangement was to defer the transaction until 1 July 2012.
Update
Some of these changes were not proceeded with in the recent 2012 NSW state budget . Contact us for further information