New South Wales Consolidated Acts

DUTIES ACT 1997 - SECT 104ZJB

104ZJB Exemption for certain build-to-rent properties transferred to foreign persons

(1) An Australian corporation that is the transferee under a transfer of residential-related property is entitled to a refund of surcharge purchaser duty paid by the transferee that is chargeable on the transfer if the Chief Commissioner is satisfied that--

(a) the transfer was entered into on or after 1 July 2020 (other than a transfer made in conformity with an agreement for sale or transfer entered into before 1 July 2020), and

(b) a building that is taken to be build-to-rent property under section 9E of the Land Tax Management Act 1956 has been constructed on the land concerned by the transferee or a related body corporate after completion of the transfer to the transferee, and

(c) the corporation has become entitled under that section to a reduction in the value of land.

(2) The amount of the refund to which a transferee is entitled under this section is the amount that is determined in accordance with an order made by the Treasurer for the purposes of this section and published in the Gazette.

(3) The amount of the refund may be the full amount of duty paid or a lesser amount (as determined in accordance with the order).

(4) The Chief Commissioner may approve a person as an exempt transferee for a particular transfer or class of transfers if the Chief Commissioner is of the opinion that the person is likely to become entitled under this section to a refund of the full amount of surcharge purchaser duty chargeable on a transfer to which the approval applies.

(5) No surcharge purchaser duty is chargeable on a transfer of residential-related property if the transferee under the transfer is approved as an exempt transferee for the transfer at the time liability for duty would otherwise have arisen.

(6) The approval of a person as an exempt transferee is subject to the following provisions--

(a) an approval may be given subject to conditions and the approval operates subject to any such conditions,

(b) the conditions of an approval may be varied by the Chief Commissioner at any time by notice to the person,

(c) an approval remains in force until it is revoked and can be revoked by the Chief Commissioner at any time by notice to the person,

(d) the revocation of an approval can be backdated to extend to a transfer in respect of which liability for surcharge purchaser duty would (but for the approval) have arisen before the revocation is notified (an
"exempted transfer" ),

(e) if the revocation of an approval is backdated to extend to an exempted transfer, surcharge purchaser duty is payable and is to be assessed or reassessed as if the approval had never applied to the transfer and as if liability for duty arose when revocation of the approval was notified.

(7) Without limiting subsection (6), if, after an exemption under this section has been applied in relation to a transfer, the land concerned is subdivided or the ownership of the land is otherwise divided within 15 years of that application--

(a) the approval of the relevant person as an exempt transferee is revoked, and

(b) that revocation of an approval is backdated to extend to the transfer in respect of which liability for surcharge purchaser duty would (but for the approval) have arisen, and

(c) surcharge purchaser duty is payable and is to be assessed or reassessed as if the approval had never applied to the transfer and as if liability for duty arose when the land was subdivided or the ownership of the land was otherwise divided.

(8) Surcharge purchaser duty may be refunded under this section only if an application for the refund is made within 12 months after the owner of the land concerned first became entitled under section 9E of the Land Tax Management Act 1956 to a reduction in the value of the land and no later than 10 years after completion of the transfer of the residential-related property to the Australian corporation.

(9) If, after a refund under this section has been paid in relation to a transfer and the land concerned is subdivided or the ownership of the land is otherwise divided within 15 years of that payment--

(a) the entitlement to the refund is terminated, and

(b) that termination is backdated to extend to the transfer in respect of which liability for surcharge purchaser duty would (but for this section) have arisen, and

(c) surcharge purchaser duty is payable and is to be assessed or reassessed as if the refund had never been paid to the transferee and as if liability for duty arose when the land was subdivided or the ownership of the land was otherwise divided.

(10) For the purposes of section 9(3)(c) of the Taxation Administration Act 1996 , any reassessment under this section is authorised to be made more than 5 years after the initial assessment.

(11) This section does not apply to a transfer of residential-related property that is a surcharge duty transaction referred to in section 104L(1)(b) except an agreement for the sale or transfer of residential-related property.

(12) In this section--

"Australian corporation" means a corporation that is incorporated or taken to be incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth.