Lincara Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue (Review and Regulation) [2018] VCAT 1060
Background
Over an 11-year period between 1985 and 1996, a trustee acquired three properties as trustee of a unit trust. In April 2016, the trustee transferred the properties to the taxpayer. At the time of the transfers, the taxpayer was the sole unitholder of the trust, and held its units in its capacity as trustee of a super fund since 2007. The super fund had been established in 1995.
The Commissioner disallowed the objection on the basis that the requirements of s.36B(1)(b) of the Duties Act 2000 were not satisfied as the taxpayer was not a unitholder at the relevant time, being when the properties were acquired by the unit trust.
Decision
On 9 July 2018, the tribunal found in favour of the Commissioner, holding that the exemption in s36B did not apply to the transfers, accepting the Commissioner’s submission that the ‘relevant time’ should be interpreted in accordance with its ‘plain and ordinary meaning’, being ‘when the Trustee acquired each of the Relevant Properties’.
