Lodge a landholder acquisition statement

If a relevant acquisition is made in a landholder, an acquisition statement must be completed and lodged and duty paid within 30 days after the date of the relevant acquisition. The statement must be completed by or on behalf of:

• the person who made the relevant acquisition in the landholder, or
• the landholder in which the relevant acquisition was made.

If the landholder is a unit trust scheme, the trustee of the landholder must complete and lodge the statement.

A landholder is not required to separately complete and lodge a statement and pay duty if the person who made the relevant acquisition lodges a statement and pays the duty within the 30-day statutory period.

In cases involving the conversion of a private unit trust scheme or a wholesale unit trust scheme to a public unit trust scheme or the conversion of a private company to a listed company, it is the trustee of the public unit trust scheme or the listed company that is required to lodge the acquisition statement and pay the applicable duty, rather than the person(s) who made the relevant acquisition.

For more information, please refer to our ruling on the obligations on making a relevant acquisition and calculation of duty.

1. Determine requirement to lodge statement and pay duty

   The landholder provisions operate on certain thresholds being satisfied before an acquisition of an interest in a landholder gives rise to a liability to duty and a requirement to lodge an acquisition statement.

   Before completing and lodging a statement, you should fully consider our landholder information and the various rulings issued by the Commissioner. Our online landholder decision tools will also assist you in determining whether you need to lodge a statement and pay duty.

   If you are unsure of your requirement to lodge an acquisition statement and/or your liability to duty, you can request a private ruling and/or an assessment from the Commissioner. If you make this request, you should estimate the duty payable on the relevant acquisition and pay that amount before the end of the 30-day statutory period. Depending on the circumstances, any underpayment of duty may attract penalty tax and interest.

   Please contact the Landholder Acquisitions Branch on 03 9628 0123 for more information.

2. Complete the statement

   This form must be completed and lodged online.

   Supporting documents must be converted to electronic format and attached as part of the lodgement process.

   Complete Landholder Acquisition Statement (Form 58)

3. Gather supporting documents

   The following documents and information must accompany the acquisition statement:

   • A full copy of the share/unit sale agreement or other agreement(s) relating to the relevant acquisition disclosed in the statement. If requesting a lesser interest to be determined for the acquisition of an economic entitlement or control, please provide full details of the basis for the request including all supporting documents.
   • Details of how the value of the land holdings has been estimated. For each of the landholder’s Victorian land holdings, please provide details of the nature, interest and address of each land holding, including a copy of the current municipal rate notice and any valuation(s) prepared by an accredited valuer.
   • The financial statements and fixed asset register for the landholder and each of its linked entities (if any) for the year immediately before the year in which the relevant acquisition occurred.
   • If applicable, copies of all uncompleted agreements for the sale or purchase of land at the date of the relevant acquisition.
   • If a claim for a reduction of duty has been made under section 89A of the Act, copies of the stamped instrument(s) evidencing the payment of duty. 
   • If a claim has been made for a corporate reconstruction or consolidation exemption, a completed Duties Form 45 (for Corporate Reconstruction) or Duties Form 52 (for Corporate Consolidation) and all the required documentation as set out in the relevant form. Please note incomplete applications will not be processed.
   • If a claim has been made for a corporate reconstruction or consolidation concession, copies of the following documents:
     • Constitutions and ASIC extracts (or the foreign equivalent, if the corporation is registered overseas) for all relevant companies in the corporate group.
     • Trust deeds (with all amending deeds) and unit registers for all relevant unit trust schemes in the corporate group.
     • A diagram of the structure of the corporate group before and after the relevant acquisition, showing the ownership structure and percentage holding of each relevant entity within the corporate group.
   • Additional documentation for corporate consolidations only:
     • Evidence of the ownership of interests in the former and new head entities immediately before and after the interposition of the new head company.
     • A statutory declaration by the directors of the new head company attesting that the relevant acquisition was effected solely for the purposes of a corporate consolidation.

   These documents must be converted to an electronic format and attached as part of the lodgement process.

4. Lodge statement with supporting documents

   The statement can be completed and lodged online.

   You can attach supporting documents up to a 20MB limit as part of the online submission. If this limit is insufficient, additional documents can be sent to us by email at landholder@sro.vic.gov.au. When submitting documents by email, please ensure that you appropriately reference your matter and identify the tracking code of your online submission.

   Important notes

   To avoid penalty tax and interest, duty must be paid within 30 days after the date of the relevant acquisition.

   Payments can be made by either EFT or cheque.

   If paying by EFT, please quote the word "LAB" and the payer's name as the relevant reference number for your payment. 

   If you require assistance with these payment options, please contact the Landholder Acquisitions Branch on 03 9628 0123.