On 9 October 2020, the Commissioner of State Revenue (the Commissioner) released Public Ruling DA000.16.1 (the Public Ruling) which introduces an administrative arrangement that provides an exemption from duty on certain small business restructures. Effectively, the exemption set out in the Public Ruling assist typical ‘mum and dad businesses' currently trading through sole traders, partnerships or discretionary trusts to corporatise their structures (which may assist with the expansion of a business, attracting investment, succession planning or simply to gain access to a broader range of tax benefits moving forward, including the new small business corporate tax rate of 26%).
Below, we provide a brief overview of the exemptions outlined in the Public Ruling and their applications.