SA Land Tax Update – Letter from RevenueSA.

In January this year we published an article about the South Australian land tax changes. These changes to the Land Tax Act 1936 come into effect on 30 June 2020 and include lower tax rates, the introduction of new land tax aggregation provisions, a different rate of tax for land held in trust and grouping provisions for related corporations.

Letter from RevenueSA

RevenueSA have sent letters to various land holders seeking verification of their landholdings in South Australia. This information is to be provided by the RevenueSA Online Portal and must be provided by the date indicated on the letter.

For those who have received this letter, you must:

1. confirm that all of your land has been included;
2. add any land that has not been included;
3. advise where land has been added incorrectly; and
4. advise of any land that is owned as trustee of a trust (which may include advising of a nominated beneficiary).

In addition, for those who have identified as the head of a corporate group, you will also need to:

1. confirm or modify the billing address and preferred billing method of their ownership;
2. confirm that all related corporations have been included;
3. add any related corporations that have not been included; and
4. advise where corporations have been included incorrectly.

If there is a corporation which is a more appropriate head of the corporate group, you can nominate that corporation to complete the declaration instead.

If you do not register to the RevenueSA Online Portal and review and confirm your land holdings by the date provided on your letter, RevenueSA will assess your 2020-21 land tax liability based on the information currently held.

Legal & Accounting Advice

If you have received a letter, it is vital that you obtain appropriate legal and accounting advice to ensure that you accurately disclose all necessary information including for Trusts and other ownerships for your properties. For example, you may hold land in your individual name as trustee of a trust, in your own right and as trustee of a super fund. Each of these should be calculated separately but if you don’t comply with reviewing and confirming your land holding information, these various different holdings may be treated jointly and the tax consequences could be significant.

Johnston Withers Lawyers: Experience You Can Trust

Johnston Withers Lawyers have a number of lawyers who have studied the new land tax provisions and can advise you on your particular circumstances. Where you would like us to look at your circumstances, we would need to be provided with copies of your current land tax assessments as to the site values of each of your properties, and be provided with details of any trusts or corporations in which you are involved. If you seek advice from us we will seek to estimate the likely changes in land tax from your position if you make no further changes to your holdings, or, with the assistance of your accountant where appropriate, suggest options that you may want to consider moving forward. We can also advise you on applications for concessions or other exemptions where applicable.

If you would like to discuss your land tax queries, contact Andrew Mitchard or another member of our commercial team on (08) 8231 1110 or get in touch online.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.