Background
The decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in
Bondi Beachside Pty Ltd v Chief Commissioner of State
Revenue [2013] NSWSC 21 is a timely reminder of the need to
obtain specialist stamp duty advice even in the face of the
impending abolition of mortgage duty in New South Wales from 30
June 2013 (assuming that abolition is not again deferred).
The facts
The case was primarily concerned with the question of whether
the extension of the termination date of a financing arrangement,
commonly referred to as a "deferred note purchase
arrangement" (and which was employed prior to major changes
being made to the Duties Act 1997 (NSW) (Duties
Act) which took effect from 1 July 2009) amounted to a
forbearance to require the payment of money owing under section
206(a)(iii) of the Duties Act. If it did, mortgage duty
would be required to be assessed at the time of the extension on
the basis that the forbearance was an "advance" within
the meaning of the Du
