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  • Writer's pictureDeborah Roscoe

Trusts Owning Property In NSW - Foreign Trust Deadline



The 31st December 2020 is a very important deadline for owners of NSW residential property. If your trust deed has not been amended by this date to exclude foreign beneficiaries then it will be considered as foreign trust and subject to pay surcharge stamp duty (additional 8% on the purchase price) and land tax (additional 2% each year) on residential property in NSW.


An amendment to a deed after 31st December, 2020 will not be effective. The problem is that by default any discretionary trust that owns residential property in NSW, will be considered a foreign trust, unless a trust deed specifically includes clauses that prevent a foreign person from being a beneficiary of the trust.


A foreign resident for this purpose is not about tax residency it is about citizenship.


This problem extends to companies and unit trusts that own NSW residential property, if their shares or units are owned by a discretionary trust.


If you haven't already addressed this, then you need to seek legal advice on this asap.

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