In determining whether parties to a sale of land intended to create legal relations before exchange of written contracts, knowledge of established conveyancing practice (such as the Victorian practice of signing and exchanging REIV standard form contracts) is properly treated as one objective factor raising an inference as to intention, not as a legal presumption. The word 'presumption' should be avoided in this context. Under s 110 of the Taxation Administration Act 1997 (Vic), the burden of proving that a contract was entered into before the relevant date for GAIC purposes lies on the taxpayer.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 2 later cases that cite this judgment.