Revenue NSW refused stamp duty payment but now wants interest

Back when I purchased my home I attempted to pay stamp duty when it was due. For some reason which has never been explained NSW Revenue did not issue a notice of assessment by the time stamp duty was legally due and advised me to wait for the notice before paying. They refused a prepayment of the approximate amount on the basis their system wouldn't be able to track it until until a reference number was generated.

I followed the matter up with them for over 8 months as I wanted to get the certificate of title.

Finally after much begging they sent me a copy of the assessment notice. Firstly it was dated 6 months after the settlement date, secondly it was addressed to a random conveyancer which is why I never got it, and thirdly they added 8 months interest.

I paid the stamp duty but objected to paying the interest. NSW Revenue confirmed I could object to the interest but subsequently rejected my objection on the basis that stamp duty must be paid when due. I then requested leniency based on the circumstances described previously. That was rejected on the same basis as above...that stamp duty must be paid when due.

NSW Revenue states I can lodge another objection and then go to NCAT but the situation is past absurd. Aside from the official objections and complaints I've explained the situation multiple times. So much correspondence has been generated that none of the people I raise the matter with are willing tom go back to the beginning to understand how all this came about. They just refer to the interest notice and say I have to pay.

I'm loath to go all the way to NCAT as from experience it will be unlikely I will recoup my costs and certainly not my time.

I see no way through the situation except to pay the interest but if someone has a suggestion on an alternative I'd be grateful to read it.

 

What does the solicitor who handled your purchase say?

 

This. I had a friend take 3 days off work to attend court 3 times to fight a $100 parking ticket. What the hell, seriously...?

 

Sounds like revenue is correct to me

 

Why did the notice go to ‘a random conveyancer’? Was it not your conveyancer.

 

Revenue NSW won't tell me why they sent it to a random conveyancer. There was no reason to send it to my conveyancer as his work was finished.Interest is almost $7,000.

 

Is the original conveyancer offering to pay the interest as it appears they should have paid the stamp duty ?

 

You should be asking does the commissioner have the power to remit any interest for a payment of stamp duty paid after the 90 day mark?

 

I've never seen a conveyancer pay a bill unless they have an invoice.

 

If the interest bill is $7k, I'd fight it. But get a lawyer onto it.

 

Didnt your solicitor know how much you agreed to pay for the property so why have to pay an approximate amount of duties?

Why your solicitor did not pay even on settlement?

I believe the Comm have the power to remit the interests but whether your reasons were reasonable?

 

Duty is liable when due and statutory limits apply before default is considered to have occurred. . Not when a notice is issued. BUt their paymnetmethods dont consider the failure of the OSR to issue the relevant reference. However the defect in the notice address may be grounds to appeal. How were they given the information to assess ? If you can demonstrate the matter was attributable to a OSR office issue it could be grounds to remit. All their payment methods rely on the client and matter reference number and it seems a critical matter to making a ontime payment. Any experienced conveyancer or solicitor should be mindful of the late payment of duty for the risk of penalties. It sounds like you rather than them were managing the process. Why wasnt the soliictor using the electronic (EDR) duties system ? Did you seek to do it in place of them ?

8 months is a long time.

Pay your transfer duty

 

Thanks for your replies. As advised the conveyancer had finished his work. There was no need to pay several hundred dollars more for them to act as a letterbox to receive the notice and then send a courier to pickup the stamped documents.

I went to the NSW Revenue office to pay the stamp duty but they did not know exactly how much it was as they had yet to issue a notice. On the day I offered to pay an estimated amount but that was refused for the reasons outlined above.

 

The conveyancer was your legal representation for the purchase, that's why they were contacted

 

????

 

Terry is saying that your conveyor hadn't completed/finished what you had engaged them to do (being all aspects of the setlement, this included ).

Sounds like you thought assuming the role of ensuring the payment (might save a few hundred in conveyancing, incorrectly ) was made that you have discharged the conveyancer of all liability and ended up with a $7k+ bill.

I still don't follow why/ how stamp duty wasn't calculated on the purchase amount and due at settlement/or "X"months after contract signing being which ever occurs first (from memory many years ago now)...

There is something missing here, either you tried to pay prior to the OSR having the file at their end to calculate, or settlement was well after stamps were due/payable, or you possibly didn't have the correct information when representing yourself to the OSR.

Sure engage a lawyer and have a letter sent, but I expect this will will cost you the $7k and legals......

 

Terry is making assumptions.

 

The notice was sent a random conveyancer. This means a conveyancer which I did not know existed and therefore I could not contact that conveynacer if I had known it was sent to them. I only found out when Revenue finally sent me the notice after months of my chasing them. This was explained in the original post.