Exemption from duty on the transfer of poker machine permits
Ruling number
|
DUT 014
|
Date issued
|
26 March 1999
|
Issued by
| JW Purcell Chief Commissioner of State Revenue
|
Effective from
|
26 March 1999
|
Effective to
|
1 July 2016
|
Status
| Current |
Preamble
Under the provisions of the Liquor Act 1982, the licensee of a hotel holds the poker machine permits of that hotel. A permit is a “statutory permission” and is dutiable property under the Duties Act 1997. Any dutiable transactions over a permit are therefore subject to duty. This gives rise to 2 problems.
First, where a hotel is owned by a company, the manager of the hotel holds the poker machine permits. Therefore, if there is a change of manager at the hotel, the poker machine permits must also be transferred to the new manager.
Section 65 of the Duties Act was recently amended to provide an exemption from duty in respect of the transfer of a liquor licence where there was a change of managers, on the basis that there was no change in beneficial interest or contemplation of such a change. Requests were made to provide a similar exemption from duty in cases where the transfer of permits occurred as a consequence of a transfer of a licence where that transfer is itself exempt under the provisions of the Duties Act.
Secondly, transfers of poker machine permits can occur following a vesting by or as a consequence of a court order of the Licensing Court of NSW. A vesting of this type is also a dutiable transaction on which ad valorem duty is payable. While some transfers of dutiable property are given concessional treatment in specified circumstances, a vesting of a poker machine permit by or as a consequence of a court order is not given similar relief in the same circumstances. Requests were made for the vesting by court order of poker machine permits to be given similar concessional treatment.
Ruling
The Treasurer has given approval for the Duties Act 1997 to be administered on the basis that:
a transfer of a poker machine permit issued pursuant to the Liquor Act 1982, is exempt from duty where the transfer of the permit occurred as a consequence of a transfer of a licence that is itself exempt under the provisions of the Duties Act; and
no duty is chargeable on the vesting of a poker machine permit by or as a consequence of a court order under the Liquor Act if the Chief Commissioner is satisfied that:
there is no change of, or contemplated change in, the beneficial ownership of the permit as a consequence of the vesting, or
the vesting is a consequence of an agreement for the sale or transfer of dutiable property on which the duty chargeable in respect of the agreement has been paid.
The Variation to Statute will operate with effect from 23 October 1998 and continue until appropriate amendments can be made to the Duties Act.
Unlike liquor licences, poker machine permits may also be transferred from one hotel to another, for example between managers of hotels in a hotel chain. These transactions are generally commercially driven and do not occur as a result of a legislative requirement. Consequently, transfers of this nature will be chargeable with duty under the normal transfer provisions of the Duties Act.