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South Coast Property Specialists (Carlene Franzen) Tips #1148:

Annual Land Tax - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Over the past year we reported several mes on the previous (Perro et) government’s ini a ves at reforming the Stamp Duty tax on the sale of residen al proper es, known as the First Home Buyer Choice (FHBC). Since early this year, eligible first home buyers were able to elect to not pay the upfront stamp duty but elect to pay an annual land tax that would (apparently) then stay with that property when it was sold in the future. If the previous government had won the elec on they had pledged to widen the scheme to include a broader range of property purchases.

Well, what a difference an elec on makes. At the me of its implementa on, the Labor party opposed the new ini a ve and vowed to repeal the op on if it was to win government. True to their word, less than 6 months a er its introduc on on the 16th January of this year, the new Premier, Chris Minns, has announced what he has described as a “simpler, fairer” stamp duty scheme where 84% (or 5 out of every 6) future first home buyers will pay no tax or a reduced rate. They have also indicated that they will close off access to the FHBC scheme from the 1st July 2023 and put in place grandfathering provisions which will be put in place for those first home buyers who did choose to opt into the scheme. Under the provisions they will con nue to pay that annual tax un l they sell their property. The annual land tax op on will then cease at that me and not apply or be available for the new owner.

Under the Minns Labor Government’s changes to the First Home Buyers Assistance scheme, the threshold for stamp duty exemp ons for first home buyers will be li ed from $650,000 to $800,000 and stamp duty concessions increased from $800,000 to $1m. That means a first home buyer purchasing a property at $800,000 will save up to $31,090 under the changes. The legisla on is also intended to improve the integrity and targe ng of first home buyer assistance programs, increasing the requirement to live in the home from 6 months to 12 months.

As we reported previously, the previous government’s inten on to move away from Stamp Duty was generally well accepted by analysts and economists so this change hasn’t been met with broad support. The CPA Australia senior tax policy manager Elinor Kasapidis said while it was pleasing to see stamp duty thresholds increase, “it’s not enough in the long run”. “CPA Australia wants governments to move away from inefficient taxes like stamp duty”. “There is widespread agreement among tax experts and professionals that stamp duty should be replaced with a smaller, annual fee for all home buyers.”

I suppose it will be interes ng to see what happens at the next elec on. If there happens to be another change in government we could expect the annual land tax ini a ve to be reinstated again which of course could start to get confusing for everyone.

The Shed welcomes males over eighteen with the aim to provide a safe place to be involved in joint projects, snooker, photography, cards, table tennis etc or just have a cuppa and a yarn.

Our general open me is Monday and Thursday 8.00-12.00 am We also open Tuesday 2.00-4.00pm for cards (euchre) Wednesday 2.00-4.00pm for snooker and the camera group meet Thursday 2.00-4.00pm. For informa on contact presidentTHMS@gmail.com secretaryTHMS@gmail.com

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