Lodge and pay duty on a relevant acquisition

Key information

If a relevant acquisition is made in a landholder, an acquisition statement must be lodged within 30 days.

Any duty must also be paid within 30 days. Penalty tax and interest may apply if you lodge or pay late.

In most cases, both the person who made the relevant acquisition and the landholder, must prepare and lodge an acquisition statement. If the landholder is a unit trust scheme, the obligation applies to the trustee. 

The trustee or listed company must lodge the acquisition statement and pay the duty if:

• a private unit trust scheme converts to a public unit trust scheme
• a private company converts to a listed company.

These obligations are outlined in sections 83-85, 89B(4) and 89C(4) of the Duties Act 2000 (the Act).

Foreign purchaser obligations

Additional duty may apply if a foreign purchaser acquires an interest in a landholder that owns or is entitled to residential property in Victoria.

See foreign purchaser additional duty to check if it applies to your transaction.

If additional duty applies, you must complete the foreign purchaser acquisition details on the acquisition statement. 

Lodgement and payment by one party

We will not require a landholder to separately lodge an acquisition statement and pay duty if the person who made the relevant acquisition lodges a statement and pays the duty within the required timeframe.

This does not apply if a private unit trust scheme converts to a public unit trust scheme or a private company converts to a listed company. In these cases, the trustee of the public unit trust scheme or the listed company must lodge the statement and pay the duty.

If more than one person is considered to have made the relevant acquisition, we will treat each party’s lodgement and payment obligations as being met if one party lodges an acquisition statement and pays the duty within the required timeframe.

If the landholder becomes aware that the acquirer does not intend to prepare and lodge an acquisition statement, the landholder must either lodge the statement itself or ensure the acquirer lodges it. Penalties may apply if neither party lodges a statement or pays the duty on time.

These obligations are outlined in sections 83-85, 89B(4) and 89C(4) of the Act. For more information about making a relevant acquisition and calculating duty, see Revenue Ruling DA-055v3 - Landholder duty - Obligations on making a relevant acquisition and duty calculation.