Key Points:
Interests in WA exploration licences (or presumably in
other interests in land) will only be dutiable where they confer a
legal or equitable interest on the taxpayer.
One of the vexing questions in duty laws is the scope of the
definition of "land". Since land is a significant part of
the duty base, either directly or indirectly via
"landholder" rules, the issue is seen as fairly important
for both taxpayers and the various State revenue offices. Similar
problems of analysis may arise in respect of the non-resident CGT
rules in Division 855 of the Tax Act, and also in the
interpretation of double tax agreements that might limit Division
855 in some cases.
It is common for the statutory definition of land to include
various mining tenements (and this is the case not only for State
duty purposes, but also for Division 855 too). So the recent
decision of Commissioner of State Revenue v Abbotts Exploration Pty
Ltd [2014] WASCA 211, at first glance
