Family Court orders are to be free from paying duties under a new move to reduce duties for some taxpayers announced by the Minister for Finance, Tony Buti.
The Minister said the Duties Amendment Bill 2022 would reduce duties and simplify tax administration.
Dr Buti said the Bill would align duty relating to Family Court orders with financial agreements made under the family law legislation and a nominal duty currently payable on the Family Court order would be removed.
“Another key measure in the Bill is the reduction of the general rate of duty for non-residential property from 1 July to align it with the residential rate,” Dr Buti said.
“This change will benefit purchasers of non-residential property, such as commercial property, vacant land and business assets, valued at more than $200,000.
“A person buying non-residential property valued at $725,000 or more will save $2,800 duty under the reduced rate.”
He said red tape and inefficiencies relating to prospecting licences would also be reduced.
“From 1 July, certain transfers of prospecting licenses can be registered with the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety without being lodged for duty assessment,” Dr Buti said.
“The vehicle licence duty has been reviewed to better align with industry practice. An exemption will apply where a vehicle purchase is cancelled prior to a purchaser taking possession of the vehicle, or the vehicle is returned for a full refund or a replacement vehicle.”
He said new car dealers registering service demonstrator vehicles would also not be required to pay duty.
“No taxpayers will be worse off under these changes and we expect Western Australians will save around $7.3 million in duty in the next financial year,” the Minister said.
