The Revenue, Fines and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2023 was passed by both houses of Parliament on 24 August 2023. It received assent on 4 September 2023.

The new Act made a number of amendments to the legislation listed on this page.

Amendment of Payroll Tax Act 2007

Groups arising from former entities – anti phoenixing measures

The amendment provides that an entity (the successor) and a former entity, including a corporation that is in administration, being wound up or deregistered constitute a group if the successor, often known as a phoenix operator or corporation, and the entity are or were sufficiently influenced by the same third party. The amendment will enable payroll tax to be recovered from these groups.

Exception for general practitioners

The amendment provides that from the date of assent of the Revenue, Fines and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 until 12 months after the date of the assent, Revenue NSW will not conduct audits of general practitioners or any entities that have a practice arrangement with general practitioners. Further, if a tax default occurs in this period, no interest and penalty tax will be payable.

Read more about the exception for medical practices

Amendment of Duties Act 1997

Vesting of land in NSW by Statute law

The amendment applies the statutory vesting provision to “divisions” of corporations. Specifically, the Act provides that if, as a result of the division of a corporation (the dividing corporation), a corporation (a new corporation) holds land previously held by the dividing corporation, the land is taken to have vested in the new corporation by statute law and is a dutiable transaction.

When does liability to duty arise?

The Act clarifies that an instrument lodged electronically under the Electronic Conveyancing National Law (NSW) that is not digitally signed is taken to have been first executed when the Chief Commissioner of State Revenue first receives information relating to the instrument.

Aggregation of dutiable transactions

The amendment removes the time limit of 12 months within which dutiable transactions need to occur to be treated as a single transaction for aggregation purposes.

Effect of alteration in purchase price

The amendment provides that, if the Chief Commissioner assesses or reassesses the liability to duty resulting from a change in consideration under an agreement for the sale or transfer of dutiable property after the agreement is entered into, but before the property is transferred, the applicable rate of duty is the rate when the agreement was first executed.

Transfers in relation to managed investment schemes

The amendment applies transfer concessions to particular transfers consequent on the deregistration of managed investment schemes.

The amendment also provides that a wholly owned sub-trust of a managed investment scheme includes a sub-trust that is jointly owned by the managed investment scheme and another wholly owned sub-trust of the managed investment scheme.

Property vested in an apparent purchaser

The amendment extends the duty concession for property vested in an apparent or real purchaser of dutiable property to the legal personal representative of an apparent or real purchaser.

Establishment of a trust relating to unidentified property and non-dutiable property

The amendment provides that an instrument declaring a trust relating to unidentified property or non-dutiable property that is electronically signed is taken to have been executed in New South Wales if the trustee’s registered office or principal place of business is in NSW or the trustee’s registered business address is in NSW or the trustee’s principal place of residence is in NSW.

Transfer of property in connection with persons changing superannuation fund

The amendment clarifies that the concessional duty provisions that apply to a person who is consolidating the person’s superannuation into a fund of which the person is already a member operate in the same way to a person changing superannuation funds.

The Act also clarifies that the concessional duty provisions that apply to a person transferring or consolidating the person’s superannuation apply only to the extent that the value of the dutiable property being transferred does not exceed the value of the person’s superannuation entitlement and no consideration is given in relation to the transfer.

Registered native title body corporates

The amendment provides that duty is not chargeable on a transfer of property to a registered native title body corporate if the transfer is in accordance with an indigenous land use agreement.

Valuation of property

The amendment removes section 305 from the Duties Act 1997 and inserts a similar provision into the Taxation Administration Act 1996. This provision will apply to all taxation laws including Duties.

Amendment of Fines Act 1996

Circumstances in which person issued with penalty reminder notice for vehicle offence is not liable to pay penalty

The amendment provides that a person on whom a penalty reminder notice is served for certain vehicle or parking offences may use a nomination notice to nominate the person who was actually driving or in charge of the vehicle or vessel at the time of the offence. The amendment makes it an offence for a person to offer or agree to have their details used in a nomination notice relating to various driving and parking offences if they were not actually driving or in charge of the vehicle at the time of the offence.

Service of notices by post

The amendment provides that a notice of a fine enforcement order is taken to have been served on a body corporate if the notice is returned undelivered from the registered office of the body corporate.

Work and development order

The amendment provides that a work and development order may be made in relation to a person who lives outside New South Wales, and a person or body who supervises or provides services or treatment to a person under a work and development order may also live or be located outside New South Wales.

The amendment also enables a person who is at least 25 years of age to undertake a mentoring program under a work and development order. Currently a person must be under 25 years of age.

Unpaid fines maybe written off

The amendment enables the Commissioner of Fines Administration to write off a person’s unpaid fine, if enforcement of the fine has not commenced, at the same time as writing off the person’s other unpaid fines in relation to which enforcement has commenced.

The amendment also provides that an unenforced unpaid fine which is written off is taken to be paid for the purposes of the Road Transport Act 2013; meaning that if the offence has associated demerit points that those demerits will be applied to the person’s traffic record.

Disclosure of information by Commissioner

The amendment enables the Fines Commissioner, and other persons engaged in the administration of the Fines Act 1996, to disclose personal information about a person that is obtained in the administration or execution of that Act to the Chief Executive Officer of Service NSW.

False and misleading information

The amendment makes it an offence for a person to give false or misleading information to the Fines Commissioner, an authorised officer under the Fines Act 1996 or another person engaged in the administration of that Act.

Amendment of the State Debt Recovery Act 2018

False and misleading information

The amendment makes it an offence for a person to give false or misleading information to the Chief Commissioner, an authorised officer under the State Debt Recovery Act 2018 or another person engaged in the administration of that Act.

Amendment of Government Sector Finance Act 2018

The amendment enables the Chief Commissioner to recover certain act of grace payments if the person who received the payment does not comply with the terms and conditions of the payment. The amendments also apply certain provisions of the Taxation Administration Act 1996 relating to record-keeping, offences and investigations to persons to whom certain act of grace payments are made.

Amendment of Land Tax Management Act 1956

The amendment:

• provide that land used as a site for a school is exempt from land tax even if the land is not owned by the school.
• removes a redundant provision in relation to unutilised land value.
• incorporate gender neutral language.

Amendment of Police Act 1990

The amendment provides that the Commissioner of Police may enter into an information sharing arrangement with the Fines Commissioner for the purposes of sharing or exchanging information if the information is obtained in connection with the administration or execution of the Fines Act 1996 and assists the NSW Police Force to exercise law enforcement or investigative functions under the Police Act 1990 or another Act.

Amendment of Property Tax (First Home Buyer Choice) Act 2022

Correction of minor drafting errors in the Property Tax (First Home Buyer Choice) Act 2022.

Amendment of State Debt Recovery Act 2018

The amendment makes it an offence for a person to give false or misleading information to the Chief Commissioner, an authorised officer under the State Debt Recovery Act 2018 or another person engaged in the administration of that Act.

Amendment of Taxation Administration Act 1996

Reassessment

The amendment provides that the 5-year limit on reassessment of a person’s tax liability does not apply if the reassessment is to give effect to a decision about an objection or review about any assessment, not only the initial assessment of the person’s tax liability.

It also clarifies that if all relevant facts and circumstances were not disclosed to the Chief Commissioner at the time of an assessment, a reassessment may be made outside the 5-year limit without the Chief Commissioner having to assess the particular facts and circumstances.

The amendment increases penalties payable under the Taxation Administration Act 1996 for offence relating to taxpayer activities that impede a proper assessment of tax liabilities.

Valuation of property

The amendment enables the Chief Commissioner to require a taxpayer to provide, or to obtain at the Chief Commissioner’s own initiative or rely on, a valuation of property for the purposes of assessing the tax liability of the taxpayer. The Chief Commissioner may recover the costs of a valuation from the taxpayer in certain circumstances.

Offset of refund against fines liability

The amendment enables a tax refund owed to a person to be offset against a fine owed by the person under the Fines Act 1996.

False and misleading information

The amendment enables a tax officer under the Taxation Administration Act 1996 to disclose information obtained under or in relation to the administration of a taxation law to the Chief Executive Officer of Service NSW and to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Disclosure of confidential tax information

The amendment creates a new offence of tax evasion for which the maximum penalty is 500 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment, or both. It creates new offences of knowingly or recklessly disclosing or using confidential tax information, or knowingly concealing or attempting to conceal the unlawful disclosure or use of confidential tax information. The maximum penalty for both offences is 10,090 penalty units ($1,109,900) for an individual or 50,450 penalty units ($5,549,500).

What is a tax avoidance scheme?

The amendment also provides that the offence of promoting a tax avoidance scheme extends to promoting a scheme that may result in a group constituted under the Payroll Tax Act 2007, section 74A, also known as phoenix operations.

Objections lodged out of time

The amendment provides that the Chief Commissioner may only allow an objection to an assessment or other decision to be lodged after the current 60-day period for up to 5 years after the assessment or decision.

Means and time of payment

The amendment gives the Chief Commissioner a general power to determine how tax is paid to the Chief Commissioner, rather than specifying the methods of payment allowed.

Amendment of Unclaimed Money Act 1995

Certain money not unclaimed money

The amendment provides that money held by an enterprise in an account is not unclaimed money if the enterprise knows or has reason to believe that the account has not been operated on because of a dispute between one or more persons about who owns the money.

Publication of information relating to unclaimed money

The amendment provides that the Chief Commissioner may publish information about unclaimed money only if the identity of the owner of the unclaimed money is known.

Application for repayment

The amendment requires an application for repayment of unclaimed money to be made in a form approved by the Chief Commissioner and allows the Chief Commissioner to request more information from an applicant and to refuse to determine an application if the information is not provided.

It requires the Chief Commissioner to give written notice to a person who is required to repay money that was wrongly paid to them under the Unclaimed Money Act 1995. The notice must specify the period, of not less than 21 days, within which the person must repay the money.

The amendment provides that money that is wrongly paid to a person is to be treated as unpaid tax for certain provisions of the Taxation Administration Act 1996. This will allow the money to be recovered from third parties and corporations and for the Chief Commissioner and authorised officers to exercise their investigative functions. It enables the Chief Commissioner to apply unclaimed money owed to a person to the person’s tax debts, grant debts, referable debts or fines.

The amendment inserts provisions relating to objections and reviews of decisions made by the Chief Commissioner under the Unclaimed Money Act 1995. The provisions are based on similar provisions in the Taxation Administration Act 1996.

Amendment of Valuation of Land Act 1916

The amendment provides for objections to valuations of land for the purposes of property tax assessments in the same way as for land tax assessments.