Australian Property News

Call to remove the ‘tax on tax’

Posted on Thursday, October 07 2010 at 10:03 AM

The stamp duty on GST (goods and services tax) for commercial property transactions must be removed, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV).

When the GST was introduced in 2000, it was lumped in with the actual cost of the commercial property for the purposes of assessing stamp duty, said REIV chief executive officer Enzo Raimondo.

But he said that the GST should remain a tax on goods and services rather than “a tax on tax”.

Raimondo said this tax on the GST component of the commercial property transaction was first raised in 1999, prior to the GST introduction, “and 10 years later nothing has been done”.

“This year’s state election and 2011 Federal Tax Summit provide an opportunity to have this issue addressed,” said Raimondo.

“There is really only one acceptable outcome: stamp duty should only be levied on the actual purchase price and not on the GST,” he said.