It is understood the WA Government will move to amend the law in response to the WA State Administrative Tribunal’s decision in Aveland Pty Ltd v Comr of State Revenue [2013] WASAT 180.
In that case, the Tribunal held a property, partly developed by a taxpayer to become an 80 unit retirement village, was entirely exempt from land tax for the 2012-13 assessment year pursuant to s 39 of the Land Tax Assessment Act 2002 (WA).
The WA Government noted the Tribunal’s decision that even though only a part of the land was being used for a retirement village, that was sufficient for the exemption to apply to all the land. The WA Government said the issue has arisen from a “drafting defect” when the Land Tax Assessment Act was rewritten in 2002 and overturns a long standing policy position that pre-dated the current Act.
WA Finance Minister Mike Nahan said “unless the issue was addressed urgently, millions of dollars of revenue that the State relied upon to fund essential community services would be put at risk”. Dr Nahan said he “will be seeking to amend the legislation retrospectively, effective from 1 July 2003, to ensure that where only part of land is used for an exempt purpose, only that portion receives the benefit of an exemption”. The Minister said details of the proposed measures would be announced when the legislation is introduced into State Parliament early next year.
Source: WA Finance Minister’s media release, 27 November 2013
[LTN 232, 29/11/13]