Self assessor essentials

Transactions that must be self assessed

See the toolkit index for a list of transactions which must be self assessed.

Transactions that cannot be self assessed

The following transactions cannot be self assessed—they must be sent to OSR for Commissioner assessment.

• Land transfers where the property is transferred to someone other than the named purchaser because of a pre-existing nominee agreement. The purchaser will be described on the contract of sale as '… and/or nominee'. See Public Ruling DA022.1—Nominee agreements—under an agency relationship. 
• Transfers exempt under section 414 of the Duties Act—where an exempt institution acquires dutiable property for an exempt purpose.
• Multi-jurisdictional business transactions.
• Any motor vehicle transactions (including part of a business contract or matrimonial exemptions).
• Family law and de facto relationship matters listed below
  • transactions executed before and conditional upon the making of an order of a court and subject to escrow requirements
  • transactions not made in accordance with or at a specific direction of a financial agreement, court order or recognised agreement
  • transactions made in accordance with a financial agreement where the parties have not formally separated and no separation declaration is available
  • financial agreements and de facto transactions involving third parties.
• Transactions not made in accordance with or at a specific direction of a will.
• Concessions for dutiable transactions for particular family businesses.
• Concessions for superannuation.
• Partnership transactions.
• Corporate trustee transactions.
• Corporate reconstructions.
• Land rich duty/landholder acquisitions.
• Mining leases.
• Grant or surrender of life interest.
• General requests (Form 14) that are not listed in 'Transactions that must be self assessed'.
• Leases dated before 1 January 2006.
• Section 31—Partitions.
• Trust acquisition or trust surrender.
• Exemptions not listed under the heading ‘Transactions that must be self assessed’.
• Aggregated transactions when more than one first home concession is claimed.

You cannot reassess transactions unless your notice of registration authorises this.

Transaction dates and duty calculations

When using OSRconnect, the in-built calculators automatically calculate the duty and any unpaid tax interest (UTI).

When using the online calculators available on our website, you must enter the document date (not the unconditional date) in the Document date field. The document date is the first date at the beginning of a standard REIQ contract of sale. The document date determines which rate of duty and/or concession threshold applies.

For conditional contracts, you must ensure that the unconditional date is entered in the Unconditional date field, as this is the date that will determine when UTI would start to accrue.

The full unencumbered value of the entire property must be entered for calculation purposes. Acquisitions of a part interest are calculated by entering the share being acquired as a percentage.

Section 16 of the Duties Act describes when liability for transfer duty arises. Self assessors must lodge the dutiable transaction within the required period; that is, within 30 days after the date that liability for transfer duty arises, to avoid the imposition of UTI.

Section 151 of the Taxation Administration Act 2001 allows us to extend the date for complying with an information or lodgement requirement. An example is where the contract is conditional. See Public Ruling DA019.1—Extension of time to lodge an agreement transferring dutiable property for more information on when we will allow an extension. You then have 30 days from when the final condition of the agreement is satisfied to lodge the document.

Note: No extension of time is available if a conditional agreement is submitted before it becomes unconditional i.e. payment will be due within 14 days from the lodgement date.

Transaction numbers

Transaction numbers are automatically generated by OSRconnect for each transaction.
See our eLearning tutorials for step-by-step instructions on how to enter transactions in OSRconnect.

Nil duty transactions

You must lodge all transactions (including 'nil' duty and exempt transactions) through OSRconnect.

Data entry standards

Refer to Data entry standards for OSRconnect to avoid common errors. You must complete all mandatory data fields. Party (transferor and transferee) names must be entered in full.

Note: Failing to provide the required information may trigger a requisition and possible reassessment.

Endorsing documents

You must not endorse a document unless you have received the full amount of duty, UTI and penalty tax (if imposed).

If your client makes a direct electronic payment to us, you must ensure the payment appears in your payment history screen before endorsing the document.

When endorsing documents, you must include your client number, transaction number, duty paid, UTI and penalty (if imposed). Endorsement is completed when the stamp is dated and signed. The stamp and all entries must be in black ink.

A stamping example of an ordinary contract/transfer transaction (including UTI) showing the fields that must be completed is shown below.

Endorsing exempt transactions

If an exemption is being claimed on a contract, agreement, deed or transfer, the exempt box on the stamp must be checked. Duty paid is entered as 'nil'. Note the applicable exemption section of the Duties Act, including the section number if exempt under the FLA.

Endorsing transfers by direction

Transfers by direction involve a sale from party A to party B and then a further sale to party C. Usually, there will be a contract of sale between A and B and another between B and C, with one transfer from A to C. Both contracts are endorsed separately.

If you are the self assessor for the second contract, you cannot endorse the transfer unless you have a copy of the first contract, which shows the initial duty paid. You must keep a copy of the first endorsed contract on file.

When stamping the transfer, the transaction number for the first contract must be noted above the stamp.

Endorsing aggregated transactions

When endorsing transactions aggregated under section 30 of the Duties Act, you must stamp each transaction separately noting section 30 applied.

Pursuant transfers (section 22)

If the transfer is to be assessed by the same self assessor who endorsed the primary instrument (contract of sale/agreement), you do not need to enter the pursuant transfer into OSRconnect or complete a transaction statement. The endorsement on the transfer must be identical to that on the contract/agreement to which the transfer relates (e.g. the same client number, transaction number, duty and UTI amounts).

If you are assessing a transfer that is pursuant to a primary document that has been endorsed by us or self assessed, the document must be entered into OSRconnect. The endorsement on the transfer must be completed with the new details (e.g. client number and transaction number). The duty amount must be the same as the contract.

Payment

We prefer electronic payments. However, cheque payments are also accepted.

If you pay by cheque, you must:

• post the cheque to us
• pay by cleared funds (i.e. bank cheque or solicitor’s trust account cheque)
• include a printout of the lodgement confirmation page for each transaction being paid. Do not send any other paperwork with your cheque payments (e.g. copy of contract, concession form, instruction letter, etc).

Note: Unsigned cheques will be returned and unpaid tax interest (UTI) will accrue until full payment by cleared funds has been received. 

We will apply your payments in the following order: fees and charges, UTI, penalty tax and duty, as set out in the Taxation Administration Act 2001 (TAA).

Electronic payment

To make an electronic payment, you must quote the payment reference code (transaction number) for each separate transaction lodged through OSRconnect. The reference number is on the confirmation page that displays after you submit the transaction in OSRconnect. This page also has details on how and when to pay.

You can pay electronically by:

• credit card—BPOINT^® 
• telephone or internet banking—BPAY^® 
• direct payment 
• electronic funds transfer—EFT.

OSRconnect provides the option for your client to pay direct to us. If you decide to use this option, print or email the confirmation page to your client.

Your client can pay by:

• BPAY
• EFT
• credit card.

Note: If your client makes direct electronic payment to us, you must check your payment history and ensure the payment has been made before endorsing the document. The length of time that your client’s payment will take to appear in your payment history screen will depend on the time of day that your client pays and how long their financial institution takes to process the payment.

Unpaid tax interest (UTI)

Normal UTI rules will apply for late lodgement of transaction statements and late payments. See Public Ruling DA000.2—Self assessors, the Duties Act 2001 and the Taxation Administration Act 2001 or section 54 of the TAA for more information.

Record-keeping requirements

You must keep all information used in determining a tax law liability for a minimum of five years following the related transaction.

We accept electronic records for audit purposes; however, you must keep the original documents as it is an offence to destroy a record, even if it has been duplicated.

Refer to section 118 of the Taxation Administration Act for specific information.

Cancellation of registration

All requests to cancel your registration must be made to us in writing. You must also notify us in writing within 14 days after you cease carrying on a business. 

In most cases, changes in ownership to your business will require your registration to be cancelled. If so, a fresh application for registration of the new business entity will need to be lodged. 

Offences and penalties

We may take legal action and/or penalise you if you commit any of the following offences:

• endorsing a document without the full payment (inclusive of duty and any UTI and/or penalty) being received by either the Commissioner or the self assessor
• endorsing a document incorrectly or illegibly
• endorsing the document with false or misleading information
• registering a document relating to an interest in property without properly stamping and endorsing the document
• failing to comply with the record-keeping provisions
• wilfully damaging or destroying records.

Penalty amounts imposed are the greater of not more than 75% of the amount of duty payable for the transaction or $100.00.

You are entitled to apply for a review of any decision to impose a penalty. See Chapter 13, Parts 1 and 2 of the Duties Act 2001 for more information on the reviews and appeals process.