Tag Archives: withholding tax

Avoiding the igloo – land sold for a GST-inclusive or GST-exclusive price?

AvoidIgloo

A local sale of goods or a supply of services by a GST-registered business will usually be:

  • for a GST-inclusive price/fee; and
  • accompanied by a tax invoice confirming the GST-inclusive price and the 10% (1/11th) GST included in the price/fee.

When to look out for GST on land sales

The price and GST on a sale of real estate in Australia can be far less clear. Although a majority of sales of residential property are not subject to GST, sales broadly of:

  1. new residential premises (where not tenanted for at least five years);
  2. vacant land that can be used for residential development; and
  3. commercial residential premises;

are generally (GST) taxable supplies at settlement where the sale is by a seller who is either registered or required to be registered (perhaps solely required to register due to the sale). There are some exceptions.

Unanticipated GST and reducing GST with the margin scheme

Sometimes the parties can be caught unaware of a GST liability on the land sale or of an opportunity to apply the margin scheme to a sale of residential land under Division 75 of the A New Tax System (Goods And Services Tax) Act 1999 so a GST rate lower than 10% can be applied. A margin scheme rate lower than the 10% rate (or 1/11th of the GST inclusive price) will suit:

  • a purchaser:
    • not entitled to claim a GST credit (purchaser credits are not available when the margin scheme is applied to the purchase) ; and
    • liable for stamp duty calculated ad valorem based on the (lower) purchase price plus GST; and
  • the vendor who receives a higher nett price.

GST-inclusive or GST-exclusive price in the contract?

Normally a price for land is GST-inclusive under a contract in NSW.

Still, a purchaser should be vigilant when purchasing real estate where GST could apply. The current 2019 Law Society NSW and Real Estate Institute NSW contract of sale of land (the NSW contract) now has a number of checkboxes and GST residential withholding details which should indicate if GST is to apply when a proposed contract is received from the vendor. However where vendor agents and conveyancers are unaware or unsure about whether GST applies these can be left unchecked or incomplete when they should be proposed checked and completed.

The general conditions in the NSW Contract state that:

Normally, if a party must pay the price or any other amount to the other party under this contract, GST is not to be added to the price or amount. (Emphasis added)

General condition 13.2

That normal case thus matches a GST-inclusive price one is used to seeing on a tax invoice for goods or services from a supplier. However beware a contract which reveals that the purchaser must pay the price “plus GST” (so the price is GST-exclusive and general condition 13.2 is thus overridden) in a special condition even where less than obviously so: see Booth v Cityrose Trading Pty Ltd [2011] VCAT 278.

The importance of the terms of the contract, and the imperative to pick up an exceptional GST-exclusive special condition, is apparent from the NSW Court of Appeal decision in Igloo Homes Pty Ltd v Sammut Constructions Pty Ltd [2005] NSWCA 280. In that case a price plus GST (GST exclusive) provision in a 2000 edition NSW contract permitted the vendor to recover an additional amount of $250,000 on account of GST even though a series of misunderstandings (or worse) indicated that:

  1. the vendor had put the properties on the market at a price inclusive of GST;
  2. the purchaser had intended the price it offered to be inclusive of GST;
  3. the selling estate agent had intended the price agreed upon to be inclusive of GST;
  4. the selling estate agent was the vendor’s agent for the purpose of negotiating the sale and the price;
  5. the selling estate agent had given written advice to the vendor of the terms agreed;
  6. the vendor’s directors had intended the price to be the price agreed plus $90,909 on account of GST applying the margin scheme;
  7. neither party had intended the price to be the price agreed plus $250,000 on account of GST;
  8. the vendor had settled the sale even though GST of any amount and other amounts due at settlement hadn’t been paid by the purchaser;
  9. at settlement the vendor had accepted the price agreed and undertook to provide a tax invoice; and
  10. the purchaser’s mistake as to the effect of the contract was induced by the vendor’s agent who knew of and intended that outcome.

Contract could not be rectified

The evidence in the case showed that the purchaser did not understand GST and the margin scheme and had not examined the contract to identify the GST-exclusive special condition. It was found that the vendor’s conveyancer’s and the agent’s conduct described above was not so wrongful that the “rectification” of the contract sought on appeal was justified: a rewriting of the contract by the courts to reset the price as GST-inclusive.

Add the GST inclusive amount in the box to avoid an “Igloo”

The 2019 NSW contract includes a box on the front page:

The price includes GST of: $ _________

however the box is marked “optional”. It is in a purchaser’s interests to ensure this box is completed before contracts are exchanged so a purchaser’s liability for a “plus GST” amount above the agreed contract price can be countered for whatever reason.

The margin scheme and the price

One reason the parties may not complete this box is that the parties do or would seek to apply the margin scheme where GST must be charged. Eligibility for the margin scheme and thus a GST rate lower than 1/11th of the sale price is limited – see Eligibility to use the margin scheme at the ATO website. A GST liability under the margin scheme needs to be calculated by the vendor and the vendor may not have performed the calculation in time for the exchange of contracts. A further requirement of using the margin scheme is that the parties must agree to apply it under their contract (another checkbox on the NSW contract).

Under the consideration method for applying the margin scheme, which will usually be the only method applicable to property acquired on or after 1 July 2000, a margin scheme GST is 1/11th of the margin viz. the margin is the difference between the property’s selling price and the original purchase price. That is, the sale price less the purchase price equals the margin.

The GST residential withholding amount when the margin scheme applies

The margin scheme GST and rate differs from the flat 7% GST residential withholding amount which a purchaser must usually withhold at settlement based on the vendor’s notification that margin scheme GST applies on the contract.  GST residential withholding was introduced in 2018 to require a purchaser to withhold an amount to meet the GST on the sale (taxable supply) of residential land at settlement. The GSTRW amount is paid by the purchaser to the Australian Taxation Office at settlement as an approximation of the margin scheme GST with credit given to the vendor for the payment.

The 7% GST residential withholding amount is presently set by sub-sections 14-250(6)-(8) of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953. Under sub-section 14-250(7) the 7% rate is applied to the “contract price” to determine the amount that must be withheld. It is to be remembered that the 7% is not the GST payable by the purchaser so a calculation treating a notionally GST-exclusive price as the price in the 7% calculation  viz.

notGSTRWcalc

viz. 6.542056075% of the contract price on a supposed GST-inclusive basis withheld as GST residential withholding is not compliant either with this author’s understanding of sub-sections 14-250(6)-(8) or with the ATO website guidance on withholding on GST at Settlement. It should be 7% x Price.

Taking out tax when superannuation death benefits are paid to deceased estates and testamentary trusts

Confusion-Blue

Who pays tax and how much when a superannuation fund pays out death benefits to a deceased estate or to a testamentary trust is not intuitive. The two technical concepts of “dependant” and “taxable component” in particular are a source of confusion.

Dependant

There are two relevant kinds of dependant. The SIS Act kind of dependant (a spouse of the person, any child of the person and any person with whom the person has an interdependency relationship – section 10 of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993) notably differs from a death benefits dependant under section 302-195 of the Income Tax Assessment 1997 , a subset of (SIS Act) dependant, as a death benefits dependant excludes adult children who are not disabled or in an interdependency relationship. Such an independent adult child can be a (SIS Act) dependant in receipt of a death benefit from a superannuation fund but is not a (section 302-195 of the ITAA 1997) death benefits dependant.

Taxable component

For tax purposes a death benefit is split into a taxable component and a tax fee component. The tax free component is tax free to any dependant but the taxable component is a misnomer when paid to a death benefits dependant (DBD): it’s tax free too! So of the four permutations (tax free to DBD, tax free to Non-DBD, taxable to DBD, taxable to Non-DBD) it is when a death benefits dependant receives a death benefit comprising taxable component that the benefit becomes taxable.

Re-contribution

Superannuation benefits can be paid prior to death if a member has satisfied a condition of release such as reaching the age of 65 years. This can be a way of reducing the taxable component of a death benefit that might be taxable to a dependant when paid after the member’s death. Member benefits, viz. benefits withdrawn by a member during his or her lifetime, are generally not taxable to the member where the member has reached aged 60.  It is permissible to re-contribute withdrawn benefits as non-concessional contributions back into superannuation, which become tax free component, when later paid out by the superannuation fund as death benefits.

Non-concessional limits and caps on re-contribution

However the member must be within non-concessional contribution limits to re-contribute back into superannuation in this way. At over age 65 that involves meeting the work test and being within the non-concessional caps. That is being under:

  • annual non-concessional contributions of $100,000 p.a. (no bring forward allowed for over age 65s); and
  • a total superannuation balance of $1.6m.
A look at how a taxable death benefit is taxed

A payment of death benefit that flows to a beneficiary of a deceased estate is something of a three stage event. The tax system looks through to the ultimate dependant in receipt of the death benefit (the third stage) even though the trustee of the superannuation fund may simply be paying death benefits to the legal personal representative of the deceased member who is an allowable (SIS Act) dependant (the first stage).

Non-death benefits dependants only get lump sum death benefits

Only lump sum death benefits can be paid to a dependant who is not a death benefits dependant, such as an independent adult child, so ordinarily we are looking at tax at 15% on a “taxed element” (the usual source [element] of benefits from a SMSF) but other rates can apply: see this table of rates at the ATO website https://www.ato.gov.au/rates/key-superannuation-rates-and-thresholds/?page=12

A curiosity is that taxable lump sum death benefits received by the trustee of a deceased estate are not subject to the medicare levy. Taxable lump sum death benefits viz. taxable component received directly by a non-death benefits dependant from the trustee of a superannuation fund, that is, not indirectly from the fund via a legal personal representative deceased estate dependant, is subject to medicare levy and PAYG withholding.

No PAYG withholding on lump sum death benefit paid by the trustee of the superannuation fund

The ATO also confirms that a lump sum death benefit is not subject to PAYG withholding where it is paid to:

  • a death benefit dependant (tax free); or
  • the trustee of a deceased estate – this amount is taxed within the deceased estate broadly in the same way it would be taxed if it was paid directly to the beneficiary.

https://www.ato.gov.au/super/apra-regulated-funds/paying-benefits/taxation-of-super-benefits/?default

The trustee of the superannuation fund is obliged to provide a PAYG payment summary – superannuation lump sum form (NAT 70947) to the trustee of the deceased estate within fourteen days of the payment though.

Obligations of the trustee of the deceased estate

According to the 2018 trust tax return instructions at the ATO website https://www.ato.gov.au/forms/trust-tax-return-instructions-2018/?page=43

A superannuation death benefit paid to a trustee is taxed in the hands of the trustee in the same way that it would be taxed if paid directly to a beneficiary, that is, the portions of the payment are subject to tax to the extent the beneficiary is a dependant or a non-dependant of the deceased. There is no tax payable to the extent that the payment is made to dependants or eligible non-dependants of the deceased.

At stage two, the trustee returns the taxable portions applicable to the non death benefits dependants in the trust return so that the ATO can assess the tax payable by the trustee as if the estate beneficiary/non-death benefits dependant was being directly taxed (with the taxed element generally capped to 15%).

This tax is a final tax paid at the trustee of the deceased estate level so no tax at stage three! A trustee of deceased estate should not include taxable elements of a superannuation death benefit lump sum, otherwise returned and directly and finally taxed, in income in its tax return. Then these amounts will not be further taxed at stage three as income say of a resident adult beneficiary.

GST withholding on residential property sales to plug a phoenix hole

The Federal Government, through the Phoenix Task Force involving the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and other government agencies, has been cracking down on invidious “phoenix” activity through this decade.

The phoenix swindle

The idea behind a phoenix entity is that the entity, usually a company, is set up to undertake and undertakes a money-making activity where a considerable portion of the money made is owed to government, usually as taxes such as PAYG withholding or GST, perhaps after a significant claim of GST input tax credits, or to other agencies or creditors. Before the taxes, or money owed, can be collected, the money made by the entity is stripped from the entity by the controllers of the entity. The controllers can then rise from the ashes, phoenix like, with a new entity which can again make money for the controllers in the same way and can again be stripped of money owed to government, agencies and creditors by them.

Proposed GST withholding by purchasers of residential land

The government is addressing a phoenix trouble spot with property developers by the proposed introduction of a GST withholding from 1 July 2018 under which purchasers must retain one eleventh of the price of the property on or before settlement of sale of residential land for remission to the ATO. The Exposure Draft: Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Measures No. 9) Bill 2017 has now been released in line with an announcement in the 2017/18 Budget. The withholding requirement in the Exposure Draft Bill would be a short circuit to the usual GST regime which obliges a vendor who is registered or required to be registered for the GST to collect GST on a taxable supply to a purchaser and for the vendor to pay it to the ATO via their BAS.

GST withheld 10% – GST owing less?

If the vendor applies the margin scheme then the purchaser will have withheld too much GST. The withholding rules in the Exposure Draft Bill include a mechanism which allow a vendor, who is not a monthly BAS lodger, to seek an early refund of the overpaid GST when too much GST has been withheld for the vendor by the purchaser.

GST withholding will apply to a taxable supply of land by a vendor who is registered or required to be registered for the GST under the Exposure Draft Bill. Both new residential premises and land that is potentially residential land, though not if it is input taxed as existing residential premises, require GST withholding by the purchaser. In other words the withholding obligation is broadly imposed so that the purchaser does not need to inquire about whether the land is new residential premises for GST purposes to the vendor. Broadly, and subject to exceptions, it is understood that the withholding obligation arises on the purchase of land from a vendor who is registered or required to be registered for the GST as follows:

Chart of kinds of supply

Purchaser might need to withhold 22.5% for the ATO!

The proposed introduction of the GST withholding regime follows two years after the introduction of the non-resident capital gains tax withholding tax which requires a purchaser to withhold 12.5% of the price unless the vendor produces a ATO clearance certificate to verify that the vendor is not a non-resident: see Australia is now tracking & surcharging foreign buyers of land. These withholding obligations will require focus in conveyancing with enterprises which sell residential or potential residential land in the course of their operations.

Both measures visit responsibility to collect tax on the purchaser because of the some time difficulty of collecting tax from a vendor who departs with the sale money leaving taxes and creditors owed. Potentially both withholding obligations can apply to a purchaser who would then be withholding 22.5% of the price to pay to the ATO. There is no clearance certificate or other relief to relieve a purchaser from GST withholding, as yet, which may mean that one-eleventh GST withholding will have a broad application to buyers of residential land from GST registered property developers and traders should the Exposure Draft Bill become law.

Australia is now tracking & surcharging foreign buyers of land

Turning missing demographics into tax revenue

Hats off to Australian governments who have turned an imperative into a revenue opportunity. The Australian federal government regulator, the Foreign Investment Review Board  (the FIRB), has not been well placed to track foreign purchases of real estate to date. The FIRB has been reliant on disclosure, and if prospective foreign buyers didn’t voluntarily disclose their planned land acquisitions, the FIRB has been none the wiser. There has been no register of (foreign) beneficial ownership of buyer entities which the FIRB can go and check even in the case of foreign real estate acquisitions completely prohibited under the foreign acquisitions law: the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act (C’th) 1975.

That has all changed. Buyers now need to demonstrate that they are not foreign to avoid hiked stamp duty in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Foreigners who buy and sell Australian real estate are now under great scrutiny at both the buyer and seller ends of the land sale especially if the sale is for more than $750,000.

Big city real estate markets are buoyant, prices are high and foreign buyers are not exactly welcome by those looking to buy the same city real estate. The community has been surprised to learn that foreign purchases of Australian land have not been closely monitored. So, politically, it has been an opportune time to introduce these changes. Time will tell if they will be successful. They may well be. They will be a boon to the FIRB, but Australian buyers too will get caught up in the ramp up of imposts on foreign buyers. Why?

Buyers of Australian land

This is the bit for the FIRB. The New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland governments have just introduced hefty stamp duty and land tax surcharges on foreigners. From 21 June, 2016 a sworn Purchaser Declaration (“PD”) is now required from buyers, whether foreign or not, buying real estate in New South Wales. The PD is required along with stamp duty at the band the PD establishes that the buyer should pay to complete the conveyancing of a land sale. If the buyer of land in New South Wales is a foreign person (entity):

  • a 8% SURCHARGE (for the 2018 tax year, it was 4% for the 2017 tax year) on the stamp duty (i.e. extra) applies (it’s a 7% surcharge in Victoria);
  • the buyer is not entitled to the 12 month deferral for the payment of stamp duty for off-the-plan purchases of residential property; and
  • the buyer faces 2% SURCHARGE (for the 2018 tax year, it was 0.75% for the 2017 tax year)  on land tax (i.e. extra).

It’s plain on the PD that the information is going to the ATO – it asks for the FIRB application number for the purchase. This will let the Australian Taxation Office (“ATO”) and the FIRB gather comprehensive data on foreign land acquisitions. Coupled with significantly increased penalties for breach of the foreign acquisitions rules, the availability of this information to the ATO and to the FIRB will give the federal government real capability to penalise unlawful real property acquisitions by foreigners.

Where an Australian buyer will be caught out too – example of a buyer that is an Australian-based family discretionary trust

It is notable that the PD doesn’t seek the confidential tax file number (understandable as the ATO can’t get the States to collect those) or the Australian Business Number (if any) of a buyer trust. It relies on the name of the buyer trust and a copy of the trust deed of the buyer trust with all amendments must be included with the PD.

If a foreign individual, company or trust is a potential beneficiary of the usual style of Australian family discretionary trust that is a New South Wales land buyer then, usually, the trustee can distribute 20% or more  (Victoria – more than 50%) of the income and capital to that foreign person. That gives the foreign person a “significant interest” in the trust enough to cause the trust to be a foreign trust under these rules to whom the foreign stamp duty and land tax surcharges apply.

So if the copy trust deed supplied with the PD indicates that a remoter family member,  who is not an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident, but is a foreigner who is a potential beneficiary of an (otherwise) Australian family discretionary trust ABLE to receive 20% of income or capital (more than 50% in Victoria), even if that remoter family member/foreigner may not have:

  • any current or past entitlement to income or capital of the trust; nor
  • any strong likelihood of participating in income or capital of the trust;

his or her eligibility under the trust deed exposes the trust to foreign trust/person status and liability for the stamp duty and land tax surcharges under these rules accordingly.

Sellers of Australian land

The ATO has had a problem collecting capital gains tax from sellers who are offshore after the sale of Australian land. Under tax treaties worldwide rights to tax interests in land are almost universally reserved to the governments where the land is. As other forms of assets and activity are moveable and relocatable taxation based on place is not so reserved because it is less effective than taxation based on residence and/or makes less sense.

So, frequently, when a non-resident sells land and makes a capital gain taxable in Australia, the ATO has no interaction with the non-resident, aside from due to their Australian landholding. This has often left the ATO with little leverage to assist them to collect tax debts arising from CGT on disposals of Australian land by non-residents ceasing investment in land in Australia.

The solution is the tried and trusted withholding tax model. From 1 July, 2016, the non-resident capital gains tax withholding tax (“NCGTWHT”) is an obligation on the buyer (statistically likely to be a resident) to pay a non-final withholding tax to cover capital gains tax (likely to be) owing by the non-resident seller.

The NCGTWHT broadly applies as a non-final tax on sales of land worth more than $750,000 (from 1 July 2017, was $2m from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017). If the buyer does not receive an ATO clearance certificate from the seller then the buyer must withhold 12.5% (from 1 July 2017, was 10% from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017) of the value of the property (so 12.5% of the price for the land if it is an arms length sale, 12.5% of the “first element of the cost base” of the land to the acquirer if a CGT market value substitution rule applies in a non-arms length transaction).

Where an Australian seller will be caught out too – a non-final 12.5% tax

It is of no consequence that the seller is, or might be, an Australian resident/tax resident and the buyer is assured of this. There is no “reason to believe the seller is an Australian resident” exception for sales of freehold interests in land. Even the seller could be wrong – tax residence can a vexed question which is frequently litigated in tax cases.

The liability to the ATO is on the buyer unless the seller can obtain and provide a clearance certificate from the ATO to the buyer no later than settlement of the land sale so, if the seller does not return and pay the CGT on the seller for the sale, the NCGTWHT paid by the buyer on the seller’s behalf won’t be refunded.

Template contracts for the sale of land across Australia have been hastily adjusted to include conditions confirming that, where the land is worth more than $750,000:

  • the buyer can contractually withhold the NCGTWHT from the price if the clearance certificate is not provided; and
  • the seller can be assured that the NCGTWHT will be paid immediately by the buyer to the ATO to the credit of the seller.

NCGTWHT