Written by The New South Wales government has abolished a series of duties coinciding with the start of the new financial year. The duties affected by the new taxation scheme are Mortgage Duty, Business Assets Duty and Marketable Securities Duty.
New mortgages will not be liable to any duty with exemptions including all advances and refinancing on all old mortgages. For those that have already applied for advances or refinancing an old mortgage a duty of $5 will be payable, or an exemption applied for with the Land Property Information Office, respectively. Caveats will also not be liable to duty if on a mortgage executed from 1 July, or liable to $50 duty for mortgages executed prior to 1 July. In line with these changes is that no stamping nor marking will be required before registering any mortgage.
Duty will also not apply to certain business assets such as sale of business (excluding land), goodwill, intellectual property, licensing agreements with the Commonwealth or NSW, and gaming machine entitlements, if utilised within NSW. Duties will still apply to business interest in land and certain goods.
Marketable securities including shares in a NSW company or kept within the NSW register, and units in a unit trust scheme will not be liable to duty tax, however landholder duty may still apply to companies owning over $2 million in real property.