NSW backtracks on duty abolition

On 12 June 2012, it was announced in the NSW State Budget that the following heads of NSW stamp duty, which were due to be abolished as from 1 July 2012, will continue to be charged until 1 July 2013:

• transfer duty on unquoted marketable securities;
• transfer duty on non-real (ie, non-land) business assets; and
• mortgage duty.

This means that duty will continue to be charged on transactions involving:

• transfers of, or declarations of trust over:
  • shares in unlisted companies registered in NSW;
  • units in unit trusts scheme where the register is maintained in NSW or, if outside Australia, then the manager is a NSW company or natural person resident in NSW;
  • goodwill and intellectual property (including patents and trademarks) of a business carried on in NSW;