The WA State Administrative Tribunal has affirmed the decision of the WA Commissioner of State Revenue to deny a taxpayer’s claim to the primary residence exemption as it found not all the criteria for the claimed exemption had been met.
The taxpayer and his wife made a decision to sell their home and to purchase a unit in a retirement village. They moved into the unit in May 2010. The original home remained vacant until it was sold in September 2011. The taxpayer said the delay in selling the home arose from their age and his medical condition. The Commissioner in August 2011 assessed the original home to land tax and issued an assessment in the amount of around $2,390 for the 2011-12 assessment year.
Although the Tribunal was sympathetic towards the couple, it found there was no exemption applicable under the Land tax Assessment Act 2002 (WA). Neither the “residences owned by individuals” exemption, contained in s 21 of the Act, nor the “moving between 2 private residences” exemption, contained in s 27 of the Act, could apply.
(O’Brien v Comr of State Revenue [2012] WASAT 18, WA State Administrative Tribunal, Sharp DP, 2 February 2012.)
[LTN 27, 10/2]