The New South Wales government presented the Revenue Legislation Further Amendment Bill 2024 in the NSW Parliament on 16 October 2024.

The Revenue Legislation Further Amendment Bill 2024 will amend various Acts to enhance the integrity of the revenue system, strengthen compliance, increase the efficient administration of the revenue system and otherwise ensure that revenue legislation remains effective and up to date.

The bill amends the Duties Act 1997, the Land Tax Management Act 1956, the Payroll Tax Act 2007 and the Taxation Administration Act 1996. The Duties Act 1997 amendments involve changes to the duty exemptions related to family farm transfers and relationship breakdowns to make them fairer; broadening the definition of qualified investor for landholder duty; clarifying the tax treatment of corporate collective investment vehicles; and several other minor amendments.

The Land Tax Management Act 1956 amendment relates to landholder duty and the definition of a qualified investor. Landholder duty applies when shares in a company or units in a unit trust owning land are acquired above a certain threshold. Earlier this year, the acquisition threshold for triggering landholder duty on private unit trusts was lowered from 50% to 20%, except for wholesale unit trusts and imminent wholesale unit trusts.

The bill also clarifies the tax treatment of corporate collective investment vehicles (CCIVs) in New South Wales. CCIVs are a new type of Australian company limited by shares and made up of sub-funds, which are used for fund management.  This bill amends the Land Tax Management Act 1956 to deem each sub-fund of a CCIV to be a separate unit trust. In addition, the land tax amendments will make clear that a sub-fund, considered as a unit trust, is to be a special trust for land tax purposes.

The bill is expected to pass later this year.