Landholder duty

You make a relevant acquisition when you:

• acquire a significant interest in a landholder
• acquire an interest in a landholder which, when aggregated with other interests held by you or held or acquired by a related person, results in a significant interest in the landholder
  
  or
  
  
• already have a significant interest in a landholder (on which landholder duty was imposed) and your interest increases.

If the relevant acquisition results from an aggregation of the interests of related persons, each person is jointly and severally liable to pay the duty.

A person has an interest in a landholder if the person has an entitlement as a shareholder or unitholder to a distribution of the landholder's property on its winding up (for a corporation) or termination (for a listed unit trust).

A person has a significant interest in a landholder if they have an interest of:

• 50% or more in a private landholder
  
  or
  
  
• 90% or more in a public landholder.

Example

A husband and wife each acquire a 30% interest in a private landholder. Together they have made a relevant acquisition that would be liable to landholder duty.

You acquire an interest in a landholder if you obtain an interest or your interest in the landholder increases, regardless of how the interest is obtained or increased.

For example, an interest can be acquired by:

• the purchase, gift or issue of a unit or share
• the cancellation, redemption or surrender of a unit or share
• the abrogation or alteration of a right for a unit or share
• the payment of an amount owing for a unit or share
• changing the capacity in which a person holds an interest (e.g. starting to hold the interest as a trustee).

Note: You do not need to acquire units or shares to acquire an interest in a landholder.

If you have made a relevant acquisition, you must lodge the following form within 30 days after the acquisition:

• Form D3.3—Landholder duty statement (PDF 340 K).

After the landholder duty statement is lodged, you will will receive a notice of assessment. You must pay the amount owing on or before the due date stated in the notice of assessment (at least 30 days after the issue date).

Landholder duty is calculated differently for public and private landholders.

See Calculating landholder duty for more information.