Some recent interesting cases have brought Western Australian
duty law to the fore and may have an impact on many businesses and
individuals within that State.
Here, special counsel Justin Byrne in HopgoodGanim's tax and
revenue division takes the opportunity to examine two Western
Australian duty cases relating to:
- Whether exploration licences were "land" for the
purposes of the landholder duty provisions; and
- Land tax – where an exemption for land used for rural
business was denied.
Whether exploration licences were "land" for the
purposes of the landholder duty provisions
In Abbotts Exploration Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State
Revenue [2013] WASAT 39, the Western Australian State
Administrative Tribunal has held that three exploration licences
were held to be "land" for the purposes of the WA
landholder duty provisions, whereas the fourth exploration licence
only conferred a personal right in relation to the taxpayer.
