Duties

Conveyance duty

Contributed by ACT Revenue Office and current to December 2021

Conveyance duty (commonly known as stamp duty) is imposed under the Duties Act 1999 on land transactions in the ACT.

Conveyance duty is charged as a marginal rate of the dutiable value of the property, which means the higher of the property’s purchase price or market value. There are different scales of rates for residential and commercial transactions.

There are a number of concessions and exemptions from conveyance duty, for example, the Home Buyer Concession Scheme and the owner occupier duty concession for eligible off the plan units. Transactions that relate to a marriage breakdown and wills may also be exempt.

Conveyance duty is payable within 14 days of the registration of a transfer of the property title.

Landholder duty

Landholder duty under the Duties Act 1999 is an equivalent tax to conveyance duty. Conveyance duty applies to the direct transfer of property ownership from one person or entity to another. Landholder duty is intended to tax indirect property transfers, such as, share transfers in a company that owns land in the ACT.

A liability for landholder duty arises when a relevant acquisition is made – that is, when a person or entity acquires an interest in a landholder that is:

• a significant interest
• a further interest beyond a significant interest
• when aggregated with associated persons, amounts to a significant interest
• when persons or entities acquiring interest in a landholder and are acting in concert, or the acquisitions are essentially one transaction, and when these acquisitions are aggregated they amount to a significant interest.

A significant interest occurs where a person or entity is entitled to at least 50 per cent of the distribution of property from the landholder on the winding up of the landholder or otherwise.

Motor vehicle registration duty

Motor vehicle registration duty under the Duties Act 1999 is payable when a motor vehicle is first registered in the ACT or its registration is transferred.

The amount of duty is calculated under the Vehicle Emission Reduction Scheme, which bases the duty rate on the CO2 emissions of the vehicle model. Zero and low emissions vehicles pay less in duty, however, the vehicle must be a new vehicle. Demonstrators purchased from an ACT dealer are also eligible to pay less in duty.

Access Canberra is responsible for the collection of duty at the point of vehicle registration, see www.accesscanberra.act.gov.au/s/article/duty-payable-upon-registration-or-transfer-of-a-motor-vehicle-tab-overview. The ACT Revenue Office handles certain exemptions and refunds, see www.revenue.act.gov.au/duties/motor-vehicle-duty.