What stamp duty concessions/exemptions are available

Stamp duty is a major consideration when purchasing, transferring or transacting with real property.

But, there are exemptions and concessions available in many circumstances. The difference between an exemption and a concession is that an exemption means that no stamp duty is payable at all. A concession means that for some reason, whether it be the provisions of the Duties Act 2000 or that some criteria is not met for the transferee to qualify for an exemption, they may receive a reduction, or concession on the stamp duty to be paid.

One of the common exemptions from stamp duty is a transfer of real property between husband and wife or de facto spouses. At one point that exemption applied to all property. Now, that exemption only applies if the property is the primary place of residence.

Purchasing a primary place of residence may see you eligible for a stamp duty exemption or concession. The criteria to be met for an exemption is that:

1. The purchaser, or if there are more than one, at least one of the purchasers must intend to move into the property within 1 year of purchase and remain living there for at least 12 months; and
2. The purchase price is $550,000.00 or less.

If the purchase price is more than $550,000.00 a concession may still apply.

More complex transactions may also be eligible for stamp duty exemptions or concessions. These include transactions such as:

3. Transferring property from a trustee of a fixed or unit trust to the unit holder.
4. Transferring property from or to a discretionary trust by or to its beneficiaries.
5. Transferring property from or to a Self-managed Superannuation fund to or from its members;
6. Family farm exemptions;
7. Pensioner exemptions or concessions;
8. Change to trustees requiring a transfer of land;
9. Special disability trusts purchasing property.

This is not an exhaustive list of transactions. We caution that each of these exemptions or concessions is subject to certain criteria being met.

If you would like to know more about stamp duty exemptions or concessions, please call Patricia Sheedy of our office on 03 9707 1155 or email trish@wslegal.com.au.