Duties Act 2001

This section applies in relation to a dutiable transaction that is a transfer, or an agreement for the transfer, of small business property if—

the trustee of a small business entity that is a discretionary trust transfers, or agrees to transfer, the property of the entity to a transferee corporation; and

all default beneficiaries of the trust are shareholders in the transferee corporation; and

the unencumbered value of the property the subject of the transfer or agreement is not more than $10m.

Transfer duty is not imposed on the dutiable transaction to the extent of the lesser of the following interests in relation to each default beneficiary—

the beneficiary’s trust interest in the discretionary trust that held the small business property immediately before the transfer or the agreement was entered into;

the beneficiary’s share interest in the transferee corporation immediately after the transfer or the agreement was entered into.

For applying subsection (2) in relation to more than 1 default beneficiary of a discretionary trust, the default beneficiaries are taken to hold the trust interests in equal shares if the trust deed does not state the percentage of income or property each beneficiary is to receive from the trust.

Also, if the small business property includes a vehicle, vehicle registration duty is not imposed on an application to transfer the vehicle.