I just opened a lovely little letter for the OSR concerning my land tax for 2007 telling me it will now be calculated on an average value of the last couple of years. On the back of the letter there is a couple of paragraphs on Trusts. This is where it gets confusing. Copied below:
Trusts
A decision of the High Court of Australia on 28 September 2005, concerning the taxing of unit trusts under the Victorian Land Tax Act 1958, ruled that holders of units in a Victorian unit trust are not the owners of the land held by the trust.
As a result of this decision, from the 2006 tax year, nearly all unit trusts in NSW are liable to be assessed as 'special trusts' under section 3A of the NSW Land Tax Management Act 1956. Special trusts are assessed at the rate of 1.7 per cent on the combined taxable value of the land and ae not entitled to receive the threshold of $352 000.
Concessions have been introduced to allow unit trusts to be assessed as fixed trusts for the 2006 and subsequent tax years provided certain criteria are met. Download the Unit Trusts factsheet lising all the criteria at www.osr.nsw.gov.au
Now, when I go to the website I cannot find any factsheet concerning trusts of any sort. I even put Unit Trusts into their search function & still couldn't find anything.
Does this mean that a trust will now get the threshold?
I have a discretionary family trust (not a unit trust) so how will this affect me?
Would really appreciate any views from the wonderful accountants we have on the forum.
Trusts
A decision of the High Court of Australia on 28 September 2005, concerning the taxing of unit trusts under the Victorian Land Tax Act 1958, ruled that holders of units in a Victorian unit trust are not the owners of the land held by the trust.
As a result of this decision, from the 2006 tax year, nearly all unit trusts in NSW are liable to be assessed as 'special trusts' under section 3A of the NSW Land Tax Management Act 1956. Special trusts are assessed at the rate of 1.7 per cent on the combined taxable value of the land and ae not entitled to receive the threshold of $352 000.
Concessions have been introduced to allow unit trusts to be assessed as fixed trusts for the 2006 and subsequent tax years provided certain criteria are met. Download the Unit Trusts factsheet lising all the criteria at www.osr.nsw.gov.au
Now, when I go to the website I cannot find any factsheet concerning trusts of any sort. I even put Unit Trusts into their search function & still couldn't find anything.
Does this mean that a trust will now get the threshold?
I have a discretionary family trust (not a unit trust) so how will this affect me?
Would really appreciate any views from the wonderful accountants we have on the forum.