South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts5A—Waiver or refund of land tax for residential land in certain cases
(1) The Commissioner
may, on application under this section, grant—
(a) a
waiver or refund of land tax paid or payable by the applicant on land for a
particular financial year; or
(b) a
refund of an amount paid by the applicant as a purchaser of land to the vendor
of the land as an adjustment of land tax paid or payable on the land for the
financial year in which settlement takes place (an "amount representing land
tax ),
if—
(c) the
following criteria are satisfied:
(i)
the land became the applicant's principal place of
residence during the course of the financial year;
(ii)
proper grounds for exempting the land from land tax under
section 5 came into existence when the land became the applicant's
principal place of residence;
(iii)
the applicant must have divested himself or herself,
before the end of the financial year, of any other land in respect of which
the applicant has had the benefit of a relevant concession for the financial
year;
(iv)
unless the Commissioner allows otherwise in a particular
case, no rent or other consideration has been paid or is payable for
occupation, during the financial year, of the land or any other land in
respect of which the applicant has had the benefit of a relevant concession
for the financial year, while the applicant owned both the land and other such
land;
(v)
the criteria for the time being determined by regulation;
or
(d) in
the case of a waiver or refund under paragraph (a), the following
criteria are satisfied:
(i)
the land ceased to be the applicant's principal place of
residence during the course of the previous financial year;
(ii)
proper grounds for exempting the land from land tax under
section 5 existed immediately before the land ceased to be the
applicant's principal place of residence;
(iii)
the applicant must have divested himself or herself of
the land before the end of the financial year;
(iv)
unless the Commissioner allows otherwise in a particular
case, no rent or other consideration has been paid or is payable for
occupation, during the financial year or the previous financial year, of the
land or any other land in respect of which the applicant has had the benefit
of a relevant concession for the financial year or the previous financial
year, while the applicant owned both the land and other such land;
(v)
the criteria for the time being determined by regulation.
(2) For the purposes
of subsection (1), an applicant has had the benefit of a relevant
concession in respect of land for a financial year if the applicant has, for
the financial year—
(a) had
the benefit of an exemption from land tax under section 5 in respect of
the land as the applicant's principal place of residence; or
(b) had
the benefit of a waiver or refund of land tax, or an amount representing
land tax, under this section in respect of the land.
(3) The amount of the
waiver or refund is to be determined as follows:
(a) in
the case of a waiver or refund of land tax—the amount of the waiver or
refund is the amount by which the assessment of the taxpayer would have been
reduced if the land had been exempt from land tax under section 5;
(b) in
the case of a refund of an amount representing land tax paid by a purchaser of
the land, the amount of the refund is—
(i)
the actual amount paid to the vendor by the purchaser as
an adjustment of land tax; or
(ii)
a proportion of the land tax that would be payable on the
land for the financial year concerned if the taxpayer owned only that land,
being the proportion that the number of days from the date of settlement to
the end of that financial year bears to 365,
whichever is the lesser.
(4) An application for
a waiver or refund of land tax or an amount representing land tax under this
section—
(a) will
be taken to be an application for a refund of land tax for the purposes of the
Taxation Administration Act 1996 ; and
(b) must
be accompanied by evidence supporting the application as required by
the Commissioner; and
(c) in
the case of an application for a refund—must be made not more than
5 years after the assessment of the liability to the tax.
(5) A person must not
make a false or misleading statement or representation in an application made,
or purporting to be made, under this section.
Maximum penalty: $10 000.
(6) If
the Commissioner—
(a) has
made a determination that land tax, or an amount representing land tax, in
respect of land for a financial year be waived or refunded under this section;
and
(b)
subsequently determines that proper grounds for the determination did not
exist,
the Commissioner may revoke the earlier determination and, in that event, the
amount waived or refunded becomes payable as land tax in respect of the land
for the financial year by the person who had the benefit of the waiver or
refund.
(6a) A person is not
eligible for a waiver or refund of land tax under this section if the relevant
land becomes the person's principal place of residence for a financial year
that immediately follows a period of 3 financial years for which the person
has had the benefit of an exemption from land tax under section 5(10)(ab)
in respect of the same land.
(7) This section
applies in relation to land tax for a financial year commencing on or after 1
July 2001.