For contracts or transfers dated on or after 1 July 2017, this information is pre-populated via the digital duties form. Please refer to the Settlement Statement to verify this information is correct under question - Transferee Details - Are you a foreign corporation or are you a foreign purchaser?
For contracts, transactions, agreements and arrangements entered into:
- On or after 1 July 2015 but before 1 July 2016 (even if the settlement date is on or after 1 July 2016), the additional duty rate is 3 per cent,
- On or after 1 July 2016, the additional duty rate is 7 per cent.
The additional duty applies to any arrangement or transaction involving the transfer of interest in residential property, including:
- Buying a residential (vacant land, private dwelling or mixed use) property at auction or by private sale,
- Being given a residential property as a gift,
- Certain leasing arrangements,
- Transfers of interests in a deceased estate.
The duty applies even if you only acquire part of or a part interest in the property.
Where you entered into a contract to purchase residential property before 1 July 2015 but nominate a foreign purchaser to take a transfer right of the property on or after 1 July 2015, additional duty may also apply.
Additional duty will apply where a foreign purchaser is nominated to take a transfer of residential property and that nomination is executed on or after 1 July 2015 and the nomination triggers a sub-sale event. This is the case even if the sale contract was entered into before 1 July 2015.
Where a person is nominated to take a transfer under an off-the-plan contract, this arrangement will trigger a sub-sale event as there has been land development. In this situation, land transfer duty is generally only charged on the transfer to the nominated person. Therefore, where a foreign purchaser is nominated to take a transfer of residential property under an off-the-plan contract and that nomination occurs on or after 1 July 2015, additional duty will apply.
Where a nomination does not trigger a sub-sale event (that is, no additional consideration and no land development) the transaction will be considered to have been entered into on the date of the contract and not the date of the nomination. In this case, additional duty will not apply in respect of a nomination made in respect of a contract entered into before 1 July 2015.
You are not deemed to be a foreign purchaser if you are a citizen or permanent resident of Australia or a New Zealand citizen with a Special Category Visa (Subclass 444). A transferee is classified as a foreign purchaser if:
- They have answered YES in Part C of Form 62 – Purchaser Statement, or
- They have answered YES in Part D of Form 62 – Purchaser Statement, or
- They have answered YES in Part E of Form 62 – Purchaser Statement.