The WA State Administrative Tribunal has affirmed the Commissioner’s decision to refuse a land tax exemption claimed by the taxpayers for the 2010-11 financial year, as it found the land was not being used by the owner of the land for a rural business, as required under s 29(3) of the Land Tax Assessment Act 2002 (WA).
The Commissioner accepted that the land was being used for a rural business by a company but not that it was being used for that purpose by the owners. At the relevant point in time, the land was registered in the names of 3 executors of the will of the former owner of the land. The taxpayers argued that, as the ultimate beneficiaries under the will, 2 of the children of the former owner were the owners for the purpose of the land tax exemption.
The Tribunal concluded that the 2 children were not, in their personal capacity, the owners at the relevant time, but that even if they were, they were not using the land for a rural business because they were not, themselves, carrying on the rural business.
(Hibben & Ors v Comr of State Revenue [2012] WASAT 234, WA State Administrative Tribunal, Chanley P, 28 November 2012.)
[LTN 237, 6/12]