WA Stamp Duty on rural property being subdivided?

Hi all,

I am new here on this forum and have a question regarding a rural property my wife and I have in WA.

It is 160 acres and currently zoned Agriculture, we are in the process of subdividing it into 2 lots. One lot will be zoned Agriculture (90 acres) and the other will be zoned Conservation (70 acres), this is the only way it was going to get approved and we now have conditional approval from WAPC.

Once subdivided my wife and I will be owners of both lots but we intend selling the Agriculture lot pretty well straight away...hopefully.

Our questions are:
1. Will we be up for stamp duty for the 2 lots once subdivided?
2. If so, how is it calculated?

I know we didn't pay stamp duty when we bought it (20 years ago) as we purchased it from an immediate family member. In WA there was no SD when purchasing a rural property from a family member.

Any answers, advise or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

If more info is required to answer our questions, please ask.

Many thanks,
Scott

 

You will need specific legal advice but subdivisions generally doesn't trigger duty unless the ownership changes.

 

Hi Terry,
Ok thanks, I'll make further enquires.

 

You may be up for GST but as it's a rural lot I'm not sure. I know there is GST when selling residential land.

That and CGT or income tax too.

 

no taxable supply

 

Hi Westminster,

Thanks, I wasn't aware of GST when selling land.

We are registered for GST on the property as we were selling marron and operating as a business.

But wouldn't the purchaser pay the GST anyway?

We are aware there could be CGT but as we've had it for 19 years we are thinking it won't be a great amount. Purchased 160 acres for $450k in 2000 and selling about 90 acres for about $575k but over that time we spent more than $150k on property improvements.

Thanks for the advise...

 

There would not be any GST on subdivision, but probably on the sale.

 

You should be ok with the sub div for WA stamp duty and the same for GST.

Wa farmland is exempt from land tax. So if you rezone just check on how the rezoning will impact your land tax status. The 30 June date for WA land tax is important here.

 

Hi Ross,

Thanks for that info.

Though not sure about WA Land Tax as we are currently paying land tax on our rural property. We don't live on it at the moment, so not sure if that makes a difference.

 

You are probably not primary producers?

 

No, I don't think we'd be considered primary producers.
Really a lifestyle block but we do have a Fisheries license to some marron.