Commissioner of State Revenue v Challenger Listed Investments Ltd

(2011) 34 VR 617; [2011] VSCA 272

Victorian Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Taxation
2. › Stamp duty
3. › Land rich provisions
4. › Interest in landholder
5. › Beneficial entitlement
6. › Whether trustee holds beneficial entitlement to distribution on winding up
7. › Duties Act 2000 (Vic), ss 76(1), 77
1. Taxation
2. › Stamp duty
3. › Conversion of private unit trust to public unit trust
4. › Liability for duty under s 89C
5. › Whether transactions occurred under agreement or arrangement
6. › Whether private unit trust must be land rich landholder at time agreement made
7. › Whether public issue of new units constitutes cessation of interest or payment to existing holder
8. › Duties Act 2000 (Vic), s 89C
1. Precedent
2. › Court of Appeal
3. › Departure from earlier decision
4. › Criteria for departing from earlier decision
5. › Whether earlier decision plainly wrong
6. › Intermediate appellate court not strictly bound by own previous decisions

Quick Take

A trustee holding units in a unit trust landholder does not hold an 'interest' within the meaning of s 76(1) of the Duties Act 2000 (Vic) because a trustee does not have a 'beneficial entitlement' to a distribution of property on winding up. This principle applies to transactions between 13 May 2004 and 25 July 2007, after which s 77(2AA) deems a trustee to obtain an interest beneficially. The issue of new units to the public in an IPO does not constitute a cessation of an existing unitholder's interest or a payment to that unitholder for the purposes of s 89C.