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Bills pass Lower House (Tas)
The Tasmanian House of Assembly has passed Bills that will introduce a foreign investor land tax surcharge and make amendments to the Duties Act 2001 (Tas) (Duties Act).
The Land Tax Amendment (Foreign Investors) Bill 2022 and the Land Tax Rating Amendment (Foreign Investors) Bill 2022 will, when they become law, amend the Land Tax Act 2000 (Tas) and the Land Tax Rating Act 2000 (Tas) to introduce a 2% foreign investor land tax surcharge from 1 July 2022.
Notably, the surcharge will apply to any interest in residential land that is:
- acquired by a foreign person on or after 1 July 2022;
- owned by a foreign company or trust that becomes foreign on or after 1 July 2022; or
- acquired by a foreign person prior to 1 July 2022, in circumstances where that person acquires a further interest in the same land after 1 July 2022.
The surcharge will apply to the assessed land value of applicable land. Significantly, the thresholds in the Rating Act will not apply to the surcharge, such that it may be imposed even if no land tax is payable.
The Duties Amendment Bill 2022 amends the Duties Act to clarify the operation of the foreign investor duty surcharge. The amendments apply retrospectively from 1 July 2018. The Bill also contains amendments to ensure property purchases funded by non-interest based finance are only subject to duty once.
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