Revenue NSW stamp duty scrutiny puts property practitioners on notice

NSW property practitioners are facing growing compliance pressure as Revenue NSW assessments and requisitions become a sharper risk in stamp duty matters involving trusts, options, valuations and electronic lodgements.

Andrew Rider, Barrister at Level 22 Chambers, said the key issue was not a wave of new duties legislation or landmark cases, but a practical shift in how practitioners manage risk when dealing with Revenue NSW. He urged solicitors and conveyancers to work from the same materials Revenue NSW assessors use, particularly the Duties Document Matrix, revenue rulings, evidentiary requirements, duty calculators, eDuties and Electronic Duties Returns (EDR).

Rider identified discretionary trusts, surcharge purchaser duty and call option arrangements as recurring sources of unexpected liability. He warned that trust deeds for residential property purchases must be checked before exchange, especially where foreign beneficiaries need to be irrevocably excluded, and said options now require early duty modelling because costs can arise at grant, assignment, rescission and exercise. Valuations, stamped trust deeds, required forms and compliance with revenue rulings were also framed as basic but critical safeguards against requisitions, interest and penalty tax.

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