Late last year, a bill was introduced into the NSW parliament, which proposed further changes to the imposition of surcharge purchaser duty and surcharge land tax on certain discretionary trusts. That bill has just become law, with the result that all trustees of discretionary trusts are deemed “foreign”, unless foreign persons are specifically and irrevocably excluded from being beneficiaries. Importantly, this includes testamentary trusts.
Critically, this law provides a final opportunity to be excluded from these imposts and for refunds in respect of residential property acquisitions made on or after 21 June 2016. This will require trust deeds to be amended by 31 December 2020, in the way described above.
What can you do?
Although 31 December 2020 may seem a comfortable distance away, our experience is that the process of seeking client approval, gathering materials, amending documents and notifying the authorities can be protracted.
As a result, we’ve formulated a service where we’ll facilitate the review of trust deeds and the provision of a relevant deed of amendment. Notably, this is in satisfaction of similar requirements in multiple states and territories and not limited to NSW. Our service also provides confidence regarding the non-occurrence of a trust resettlement.
This article appeared in our August 2020 newsletter – source: info@foraccountants.com.au
