Trusts are a complex area of the law, particularly when it comes to taxation.
In NSW, when a foreign person – defined as an individual not ordinarily resident in Australia, a foreign corporation or a foreign government holding a substantial interest – acquires residential land in the state, ‘surcharge purchaser duty’ is payable by that foreign person. NSW residential land owned by foreign persons is also subject to ‘surcharge land tax’. Both these ‘foreign surcharges’ are payable in addition to any other duty or land tax payable.
Where a discretionary trust exists, the trustee may be liable for these foreign surcharges if any one of the potential beneficiaries of the trust is a foreign person. This applies to all potential beneficiaries under the various categories of beneficiaries provided for under the relevant trust deed, not just the named beneficiaries.
It’s a wise course of action to seek the advice of legal professionals experienced in the administration of trusts in order to avoid these foreign surcharges, which we’ll provide some more detail on in this article.
What a discretionary trust must do to avoid foreign surcharges
The NSW Commissioner of Revenue released a practice note in June 2020 on how surcharge purchaser duty and surcharge land tax is applied in situations where land is held by a discretionary trust, clarifying the application of section 104JA of the Duties Act 1997 and section 5D of the Land Tax Act 1956 to this situation.
The advice noted that potential beneficiaries of a discretionary trust are not limited to those named in the trust instrument and can include members of any class of persons to whom, or for whose benefit, trust property can be distributed or applied when the trustee exercises its discretion. This can include beneficiaries who are not included when the trust deed is executed, including foreign persons for the purposes of the foreign surcharges.
In this circumstance, the trustee of a discretionary trust will be designated a foreign person.
The note advised that to avoid being a foreign trustee, the discretionary trust must ensure:
- no potential beneficiary of the trust is a foreign person; and
- the terms of the trust must not be capable of amendment in a manner that would result in a foreign person being a potential beneficiary. This is known as the ‘no foreign beneficiary requirement’ and is usually satisfied when the terms of the trust prevent any property of the trust being distributed to or applied for the benefit of the person.
Some examples
The Commissioner’s note provided a number of examples applying the provisos around discretionary trusts and foreign persons.
A simple example is where a couple maintain a family trust and have children who are the primary beneficiaries. Potential beneficiaries of the trust include future spouses and children of those children who are primary beneficiaries. To remain exempt from foreign surcharges, therefore, the trust must be amended to exclude any foreign beneficiaries and this amendment must be irrevocable.
In a similar example, potential beneficiaries may include children but also their spouses, grandchildren, aunts and uncles, and an Australian charity operating in Australia for the benefit of residents in Australia.
Even though there may be no existing foreign beneficiaries, the trust must still be amended irrevocably to exclude any future foreign potential beneficiaries.
In another example where the trust owns no land in New South Wales, the trust does not need to contain a prohibition on foreign persons being beneficiaries. But if the trust purchases residential property in NSW it will be liable for surcharge purchaser duty in 2020 and surcharge land tax for the 2021 tax year. To escape liability for foreign surcharges, again it will need to amend the trust deed to explicitly exclude potential foreign beneficiaries.
In some cases, the trust instrument will already exclude a class of beneficiaries, including foreign persons, and is not capable of amendment. In this case the trustee will not be liable for foreign surcharges.
In the circumstance where an Australian corporation enters into a contract for the purchase of residential property in NSW and the corporation’s shares are held in a discretionary trust, the company will be liable to surcharge purchaser duty if the trust does not contain a provision to exclude foreign beneficiaries.
It should be noted that corporations are considered foreign persons if a shareholder who is a foreign person has a substantial interest in it, including where a discretionary trust is the shareholder of the company.
Further examples are available for us to discuss with you in cases where general beneficiaries of a discretionary trust will only benefit after the death of the principal beneficiary, or if the trustee is liable for surcharge purchaser duty on a transfer of dutiable property that occurred before 24 June 2020, or after that date but before midnight on 31 December 2020. In the second case, the trustee will still not be liable if the terms of the trust have been amended before midnight on 31 December 2020.
Seek our advice today
If any of the issues in this article relating to liability for foreign surcharges by a discretionary trust need further explanation, please contact us today on (02) 4365 4249 for an initial consultation. We are specialists in family trusts and can advise you in a prompt and relevant fashion on what you need to do to avoid foreign surcharges.
