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Some agreements for the sale or transfer of dutiable property lodged for stamping at Revenue NSW contain provisions that prevent the duty from being calculated at the time of lodgement.
However, to allow the transaction to proceed and the transfer to be registered, a taxpayer or a taxpayer's representative may request that a transfer in conformity with the agreement be stamped.
In these instances the agreement for sale should be stamped ‘interim stamp only’ in accordance with Section 49 of the Duties Act and the transfer should be stamped in accordance with Section 18(2) or 18(3) of the Duties Act.
Ruling
To enable this stamping, the Chief Commissioner will make an assessment of duty on the agreement by way of estimate under Section 11(2) of the Taxation Administration Act. Consequently, all information to allow this assessment to be made should be provided to the Chief Commissioner.
In addition, the person liable to pay the duty on the agreement for sale or a person authorised on their behalf must lodge a submission:
detailing the reason why consideration cannot be determined at the time of stamping;
advising the Chief Commissioner of the highest consideration that can be ascertained at the time of interim stamping;
containing an undertaking that the taxpayer will:
advise the Chief Commissioner of the date when the final value or consideration will be determined;
advise the Chief Commissioner of the date when the final value or consideration will be determined;
lodge the interim stamped agreement for reassessment and final stamping;
pay any additional duty within 3 months of the date of the notice of assessment.
Where the submission is prepared by a person other than the taxpayer (for example, a legal advisor), the undertaking must include a statement that the person is authorised to give the undertaking on behalf of the taxpayer.
Example of an Undertaking
I/We ____________________________, the [purchaser/purchasers] of the property [or the person authorised on behalf of the [purchaser/purchasers]] _________________________ hereby undertake to:
advise the Chief Commissioner, the date when the final value or consideration will be determined;
provide all necessary information to enable final stamping of the agreement;
lodge the interim stamped agreement for reassessment and final stamping; and
pay any additional duty within 3 months of the date of the notice of assessment.
On receipt of the undertaking and the duty assessed in accordance with the interim assessment, the agreement for sale and the transfer may be stamped and released. The agreement will be stamped ‘interim stamp only’.
Where there is an agreement for sale of land and an agreement for sale of other dutiable property and a transfer or transfers in conformity with them are lodged for stamping and it is possible to finally assess the duty in respect of one of the agreements, this assessment will be completed. The duty can be apportioned to each agreement in accordance with Section 25(5) of the Duties Act. The duty on the agreement(s) that cannot be finalised will be assessed in accordance with Section 49 of the Duties Act.
All information to enable the final assessment to be made will be held by Revenue NSW and will be followed up at regular intervals to enable finalisation at the earliest date.