Corporate Property Conveyancing

UPDATE FROM REVENUE WA

First home owner rate of duty and off-the-plan duty concession

The State Government has announced changes to:

• increase the value of vacant land and homes eligible for the first home owner concessional rate of duty and

• extend the eligible contract dates, increase the value thresholds for pre-construction and under construction contracts, and expand the concession to off-the-plan purchases of single-tiered strata or community title (building) scheme dwellings (but not a survey-strata scheme).

The changes will apply to transactions entered into from 21 March 2025.

The changes cannot be applied until legislation is introduced into Parliament and updates to RevenueWA’s systems have been made.

• Transactions entered into on or after 21 March 2025 that are eligible for a reduced amount of duty but settle before the changes can be applied may be reassessed for a refund of duty after settlement.

• We will provide updates on our website about when these changes will be applied.

Changes to the first home owner rate of duty and the off-the-plan duty concession Changes have been announced to the first home owner rate of duty thresholds and the off-the-plan duty concession.

If you are planning on selling in 2025 please note there are Changes for Australian and foreign residents buying and selling property .

Apply early as the certificate is valid for 12 months.

Legislation enacting changes to foreign resident capital gains withholding (FRCGW) has now passed and will apply to contracts entered into on and after 1 January 2025.

Currently Australian residents must provide a clearance certificate to the purchaser at or before settlement to avoid having 12.5% withheld from a property sale where the value of the property is $750,000 or more.

Under the changes:
• the withholding rate will increase from 12.5% to 15%
• the $750,000 property value threshold will be removed and the withholding rules will apply to all property sales.

FRCGW is designed to support the collection of tax liabilities owed by non-residents selling Australian properties.

All Australian residents selling property will require a clearance certificate from the ATO, or withholding will apply to the transaction.

If an Australian resident vendor does not provide a clearance certificate by settlement, 15% of the sale price will need to be withheld by the purchaser and paid to the ATO.

If an amount is withheld from the sale price, the vendor will only receive any refund due after their income tax return is processed at tax time.

Most clearance certificates will issue within a few days, but it’s important to apply early because some can take up to 28 days to issue. They are valid for 12 months so the vendor doesn’t need to wait until they have signed a contract.

Foreign resident vendors may be able to apply to vary the withholding rate.

Download and follow the link

Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding Form