Legal news
The High Court has dismissed an appeal by Godolphin Australia Pty Ltd (Godolphin) and confirmed that it cannot claim the primary production land tax exemption, as it was unable to show that the “dominant use” of its properties was for primary production where it also had substantial horseracing activities. The decision illustrates the issues that can arise when primary production land is used as part of business models that include other interrelated activities.
In the current economic landscape, business owners may be considering a restructure, merger, or demerger to adapt, survive, or enable growth. A change in the structure of a business typically involves either the transfer of ownership interests in the entire business or of specific assets of the business.
1. The High Court has described the trust as a “…creature of equity…” subject to the jurisdiction of a court of equity. The essential feature of every trust is that one person is an owner of property, but is bound to use their position as owner for the benefit of another or for the advancement of a purpose.
The new Commercial and Industrial Property Tax reform that progressively abolishes stamp duty on commercial and industrial property from 1 July 2024 is one of the most significant Victorian property tax reforms in the past 30 years. Anyone looking to buy or sell commercial or industrial property will be impacted.
On 14 May 2024, the State Taxation Amendment Bill 2024 (Vic) (the Bill) was released after having its second reading speech in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
In 2022, the decision of the Federal Court in Minerva Financial Group Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2022] FCA 1092 raised the question that tax benefits emanating from trustee decisions could be subject Part IVA. At that time, we said we think ‘no’ (see here).
As we’ve noted previously, commercial and industrial properties sold or transferred on or from 1July 2024, will enter the new commercial and industrial property regime. Broadly, the regime will operate such that future transfers will not trigger land transfer (stamp) duty but rather the property will be subject to a (further) set of land tax, known as commercial and industrial property tax (CIPT).
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Tribunal) has held in Quy v FCT [2024] AATA 245 that a taxpayer, who was physically in Australia for less than 2 months each year, was a resident of Australian tax purposes.
