Changes to foreign purchaser additional duty and discretionary trusts 

Published on 31 January 2020

Foreign purchaser additional duty provisions were introduced with effect from 1 July 2015. Since that time, the Commissioner has been applying what has been termed a ‘practical approach’ when certain family discretionary trusts purchase residential property.
 
As the foreign purchaser rules have now been in place for more than four years, the practical approach will no longer be applied from 1 March 2020, with transitional arrangements in place. Read more about the transitional arrangements for foreign purchaser additional duty and discretionary trusts.