Amendments to Stamp Act introduced in Parliament

16/5/96

Amendments to the Stamp Act have been introduced to Parliament to provide an exemption from stamp duty for the transfer of a farming property to the discretionary trust of a family member.

Finance Minister Max Evans said that the amendment would provide the same relief as currently existed for the transfer of farming properties between family members.

In order to prevent avoidance mechanisms, there would be two additional restrictions applied in the case of transfers to a discretionary trust. They were:

. the transferor could not control the trust to which the property was transferred; and -

. all beneficiaries of the trust must be members of the transferor's family.

Mr Evans said it was difficult to estimate the cost of such an exemption, but it was thought that it could result in about $3 million in revenue being foregone each year.

The exemption was being provided to facilitate the transfer of farming properties from the older generation to the younger generation with sufficient control to encourage better management and productivity.

The amendment would not provide stamp duty relief to a person who wanted to restructure farm holdings while continuing to control them.

Media contact: Hugh Ryan 221 5468