• Skip to content
  • Skip to navigation
Revenue NSW logo
  • About us
  • Help centre
  • News
  • Login
  • Contact us
  • Home
  • Taxes, duties, levies and royalties Expand this menu
    Return to previous menu Taxes, duties, levies and royalties
    • Make a payment
    • Payroll tax
    • Land tax
    • Transfer duty
    • More options
  • Fines and fees Expand this menu
    Return to previous menu Fines and fees
    • Pay your fine
    • Request a review
    • Nominate someone else
    • Overdue fines and fees
    • More options
  • Grants and schemes Expand this menu
    Return to previous menu Grants and schemes
    • First home owner grant
    • First home buyer assistance
    • HomeBuilder
    • Previous schemes
    • More options
  • Unclaimed money Expand this menu
    Return to previous menu Unclaimed money
    • Search for unclaimed money
    • Make a claim
    • Lodge unclaimed money
    • More options
  • About us
  • Help centre
  • News
  • Login
  • Contact us
alert icon

Read more about HomeBuilder and other relief measures to help customers impacted by COVID-19.

Taxes, duties, levies and royalties
  • About

    How to meet your obligations and make payments.

  • Land tax

    Paying tax on property you own.

  • Payroll tax

    Calculate and lodge tax on the wages paid by your business.

  • Transfer duty

    Calculate and pay transfer (stamp) duty on purchases.

  • Royalties

    We collect and audit mineral resources royalties.

  • Gaming and wagering

    We collect gaming and wagering taxes.

  • Health insurance levy

    For businesses that provide health benefits to contributors.

  • Insurance duty

    Providers of general and life insurance pay a duty.

  • Parking space levy

    Aims to reduce traffic congestion in Sydney's busiest areas.

  • Foreign buyers and land owners

    Surcharge fees that apply to residential land.

  • Motor vehicle duty

    Duty applies to some vehicle registrations and transfers.

  • Passenger service levy

    Applies to authorised taxi and booking service providers.

  • Emergency services levy

    We collect funds to support emergency services in NSW.

  • Income tax equivalent regime

    How government and the private sector compete

  • Home
  • Taxes, duties, levies and royalties
  • Transfer duty
  • Landholder duty
Listen
In this section
  1. Exemptions and concessions

Landholder duty

You may be liable for landholder duty when you acquire shares or units in a company or unit trust which owns land (‘landholder’).

A landholder is a unit trust scheme or a private or a publicly listed company that holds land (‘landholdings’) in NSW with an unencumbered value of $2 million or more.

A landholding is an interest in land other than the estate or interest of a mortgagee, charge or other secured creditor.

An interest in land includes an interest in anything fixed to the land regardless of whether such items are considered fixtures at common law.

A liability for landholder duty arises when you make a ‘relevant acquisition’.

The following persons are jointly and severally liable to pay landholder duty:

  1. The person who makes the relevant acquisition
  2. The landholder or the trustee of the landholder
  3. If the acquisition results from an aggregation of the interests, each of those other persons

Any liability to pay duty, interest or penalty tax is a charge on the land holdings of the landholder or trustee.

A relevant acquisition occurs when you acquire an interest that:

  • is a ‘significant interest’
  • when aggregated with other interests held by you or an associated person amounts to a significant interest
  • is a significant interest, and a further interest is acquired
  • when all interests that are essentially one arrangement between multiple acquirers are aggregated, form a significant interest.

A significant interest means, in the event of a distribution of all the property of the landholder immediately after the interest was acquired, you are entitled to:

  • 50 per cent or more of the property in a ‘private landholder’, or
  • 90 per cent or more of the property in a ‘public landholder’.

Acquiring a significant interest does not have to occur in one event. For instance, if you already hold a 45 per cent interest in a landholder and then acquire another five per cent, you may be liable to pay landholder duty.

You can acquire an interest in a landholder in various ways, including:

  • the purchase, gift or issue of a unit or share
  • the cancellation, redemption or surrender of a unit or share
  • the removal, cancellation or alteration of a right for a unit or share
  • the capacity in which you hold an interest in the landholder changes, e.g. from a trust to an individual.

Lodge an acquisition statement

If you’ve made a relevant acquisition in a landholder, you need to lodge an Acquisition Statement within three months of your acquisition. Where landholder duty is payable, complete and lodge the appropriate form.

For relevant acquisition made on or after 24 June 2020:

  • For private landholders: Acquisition Statement: acquisition of an interest in a private landholder (ODA043A) (PDF, 489 KB)
  • For public landholders: Acquisition Statement: acquisition of an interest in a public landholder (ODA 043B) (PDF, 356 KB)

For a relevant acquisition made before 24 June 2020, email your request for the appropriate form.

If you make a relevant acquisition as a result of the combined interests of other persons or companies, which are related or associated to you, each person or company must complete their own acquisition statement.

Each form gives you information on the supporting documents you will need to submit.

Calculating landholder duty

Landholder duty is charged at the same rate as transfer duty and is calculated on the unencumbered value of the landholdings and goods of the landholder. However, there is a specific provision for certain goods that are excluded from the calculation.

  • Unencumbered value is the value of the property determined without regard to any encumbrance (ie. mortgage) on the property.
  • Duty is calculated on the number of acquisitions made in a ‘statement period’.
  • A statement period is the period commencing three years before the date of the relevant acquisition and ending on the date of the relevant acquisition.

A different formula is then applied to this amount for private and public landholders.

Private landholders

If you make one acquisition in the statement period, landholder duty will be charged on the unencumbered value of all NSW landholdings and goods multiplied by the proportion of the landholder you acquire.

If you make more than one acquisition in the statement period, duty will be calculated by taking into account the proportion of your combined interest in the landholder.

Duty will be reduced by the amount of duty paid in a previous acquisition within the statement period.

Any proportion of the duty paid or payable on a share or unit transfer (only applicable to relevant acquisitions prior to 1 July 2016) is reduced by the formula A/B x C, where

A = the unencumbered value of the landholder’s land and goods in NSW
B = the total unencumbered value of all the landholder’s property
C = any duty already paid (e.g. duty on shares or a capital reduction or rights alteration).

Public landholders

If you make a relevant acquisition in a public landholder, duty is 10 per cent of the duty that would be charged on a transfer of all the landholdings and goods of the landholder in NSW.

  • If there was a prior exemption, duty is calculated after deducting the proportion of the value of the interest acquired in the exempt acquisition.
  • If the public landholder is a widely held trust, the duty payable is reduced by the amount of duty you’ve already paid in respect of the dutiable transaction.

Once duty has been paid on a relevant acquisition by a person in a public landholder, further acquisitions made by that person in that public landholder will not attract duty.

Linked entities

Companies and unit trusts can hold land and property in their own right, or they can hold an interest via linked entities.

A linked entity is a chain of entities – such as companies, unit trusts or partnerships – that are each entitled to the others’ property if it is distributed.

For linked entities, either one or both of the following apply.

  • At each link between two entities, one would receive at least 50 per cent of the value of the other’s property if it is distributed.
  • If all of the entities’ property other than the principal’s were to be distributed, the principal entity would be entitled to at least 50 per cent (for private landholders only).

The value of a linked entity’s interest is the portion of unencumbered value the company or unit trust would be entitled to if each entity was wound up.

Where the landholder is the beneficiary of a discretionary trust, any land or property it owns are considered to be interests of the landholder.

Surcharge Purchaser Duty

If you are a foreign person, and you have made a relevant acquisition in an landholder that has an interest in residential land, you may also need to pay Surcharge Duty in addition to landholder duty.

Make a payment

Duty must be paid within three months of the acquisition.

The following persons are jointly and severally liable to pay landholder duty:

  1. The person who makes the relevant acquisition
  2. The landholder or the trustee of the landholder
  3. If the acquisition results from an aggregation of the interests, each of those other persons

Where an interest in a landholder is acquired or held by a bare trustee for another person, the interest is taken to have been acquired by the ultimate beneficial owner.

The ultimate beneficial owner must pay the duty on a relevant acquisition made as a result of combining all interests held by the ultimate beneficial owner or associated person.

Failure to pay duty on time will result in the imposition of interest. Penalty tax may also be applied.

  • Previous
    Family transfers
  • Back to top
  • Next
    Compliance

Quick links

  • Compliance program

  • Data and statistics

  • Evidentiary requirements

  • Forms and publications

  • Legislation and rulings

  • Make a payment

  • Online services

  • Use a calculator

  • What's happening now

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Email
  • Download or print PDF
  • Taxes, duties, levies and royalties
  • Fines and fees
  • Grants and schemes
  • Unclaimed money
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility
  • Sitemap
  • nsw.gov.au
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn