When you buy or acquire a property in Victoria, you must pay land transfer duty (otherwise known as stamp duty) unless an exemption applies.
If you are a foreign purchaser and you acquire residential property, you must pay additional duty of 3 per cent. This additional duty applies to contracts, transactions, agreements and arrangements entered into and settled on or after 1 July 2015.
For example, you will not pay the additional duty if you entered into a contract to purchase residential property on 30 June 2015 that has a settlement date of 30 September 2015.
In a sub-sale transaction, where a foreign purchaser is nominated to take a transfer of residential property and that nomination is executed on or after 1 July 2015, the additional duty will apply. This is the case even if the sale contract was entered into before 1 July 2015.
Purchasers in Australia and overseas based buyers entering into contracts, transactions and agreements should pay close attention to these stamp duty implications. The new changes could result in a significant additional cost to a project.
If you are concerned about stamp duty implications you should seek independent advice.
Source: (http://www.sro.vic.gov.au/node/1658)
Dinesh Weerakkody is the Principal Legal practitioner at Victory Law
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