Updates to rulings

Published on 18 April 2018

Grouping of related corporations for land tax - new ruling

Where two or more corporations are related, the Commissioner may group them under s50 of the Land Tax Act 2005.

Related corporations that are grouped will be assessed as a single corporation. They are jointly and severally liable to pay the tax and one corporation within the group will receive an assessment on behalf of the group.

LTA-008 is a new ruling explaining the relevant factors that the Commissioner takes into account in exercising his discretion to group related corporations for land tax purposes.

Private rulings - updated ruling

Private rulings are issued in response to specific requests by taxpayers or their representatives seeking advice on the interpretation of legislation and its application to a taxpayer’s particular situation.

Ruling GEN-009v3 clarifies the circumstances in which a taxpayer can request a private ruling and outlines the requirements, process and application of a private ruling.

Lease provisions - updated ruling

The Duties Act 2000 was amended with effect from 21 November 2008 to ensure that certain leasing arrangements concerning land in Victoria are not used as a mechanism to avoid duty.

Ruling DA-052 provided guidance on the operation of lease provisions. It outlined the factors the Commissioner would take into account in determining their application and provided a number of examples to illustrate the application of the provisions to certain common situations involving leases.

Ruling DA-052v2 is an update of the ruling to reflect the current 30 day time frame for payment of duty. It also clarifies that one of the examples in the initial ruling is not an exempt transaction from 1 July 2017.