Lodge, self-assess and pay duty

Transactions that can be self-assessed are detailed in the online duties transaction guidelines.

Transactions that can't be self-assessed

Lodge the following transactions through OSR Duties Lodgments.

Transactions where

• land details, sellers/transferors' details or buyers/transferees' details exceed 25 items
• characters exceed the allowable field limits – Individual (given names and family name) - 140, Company / Government – 80
• either of the parties is not an individual and there is no Australian Company Number or Australian Business Number

Transactions involving

• contracts where more than one transfer of land (no double duty) is required
• substituted transferees - first home buyer acquisitions or transactions involving a Government Agency or Association or foreign persons
• related party transactions involving a Government Agency or Association or subsequently substituted
• mining tenements
• partial interest transfer between non-related parties
• transfers involving distributions to shareholders (bankruptcy or company liquidation)
• entity restructuring transactions
• landholder transactions
• aggregation of two or more transactions
• simultaneous put and call options
• transactions involving contingent consideration
• undivided shares (purple title)
• a leasehold strata scheme
• marriage/de facto breakdown
• court orders
• maintenance or financial agreements
• deceased estate with no consideration or distribution of estate
• changes in trustees
• partition of property
• fishing licence
• winding up of a corporation or unit trust scheme
• trustee to the beneficiary where there is no consideration
• transfers to and from a trustee
• change in tenure (such as tenants in common to joint tenants)
• correction of clerical errors where beneficial interests change
• transfers under a planning scheme
• farm-in agreement

Landgate requires the electronic lodgment of certain eligible land registry documents using an Electronic Lodgment Network operator (ELNO).

Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) is approved to operate in Western Australia as an ELNO.

Registered Online Duties clients can use PEXA to:

• settle certain transactions that have been self-assessed in Online Duties and
• have the assessed transfer duty paid into their linked trust account at settlement.

Link your PEXA Subscriber ID to your Online Duties account in order to provide a valid Certificate ID to the PEXA environment before settlement can proceed. To link your PEXA account, a person with access in Online Duties as an Authorised Person or Administrator must:

• click the 'Maintain PEXA ID' button from the Administration page
• in the 'Link a PEXA ID' section, click the 'ADD' button to enter your Subscriber ID then press 'Save'.

A verification service confirms the transaction data entered in PEXA (party details, land information, contract date and consideration) is the same as that entered into Online Duties. If the data cannot be verified and matched, you will need to review the data entered.

Following successful verification:

• the Online Duties facility will automatically notify PEXA of the duty payable (if any)
• PEXA will provide you with the option to have the duty paid into your trust account as part of the PEXA financial settlement process
• duty will be payable under the Online Duties monthly return and
• a No Double Duty Certificate will be automatically created and the number provided to PEXA to enable settlement to occur. The Certificate will be retained in Online Duties for record keeping and can be reprinted at any time.

Transactions that can be settled in PEXA

There is an agreement (e.g. a contract for sale / offer and acceptance) in place.

• The purchaser on the agreement is an individual, corporation or trustee of a trust or superannuation fund.
  For example, Super Fund Pty Ltd executes a contract for sale to purchase a property as trustee of the ABC Superannuation Fund. A transfer of land is then executed to transfer the property into Super Fund Pty Ltd’s name.
• The purchaser on the agreement substitutes their interest in the property to a related transferee on the transfer.
  For example, Mary executes a contract for sale to purchase a property. Mary decides to substitute 100% of her interest in the property to her son.
• The transaction is between related parties (if there is an agreement in place).
  For example, Louise executes a contract for sale to purchase a property from her father.

Transactions that can't be settled in PEXA

Any transactions which is:

• a transfer of land without an agreement or contract in place.
  For example, a transaction between related parties where they decide not to draw up a contract.
• an acquisition of new dutiable property on its creation, grant or issue (e.g. easements).
  For example, Greg agrees to grant an easement over his land to a utility services provider.
• the surrender of special dutiable property (e.g. easements).
  For example, the utility services provider no longer requires an easement over Greg's property and surrenders the easement.
• an agreement to transfer business assets. Transfers of business assets are not registered with Landgate so are not eligible for electronic settlement.
• a related party transfer of land from an individual to their superannuation fund (where it is eligible for nominal duty).
  For example, Sue executes a contract for sale to transfer an investment property she owns to her superannuation fund. The transaction was self-assessed for nominal duty of $20.
• the transfer of land from a discretionary trust to a beneficiary of the trust (where it is eligible for nominal duty).
  For example, Bob, as trustee of the Smith Family Trust, decides to vest part of the trust property to Mary who was a beneficiary at the time the property was acquired. The transaction was assessed for nominal duty of $20.

Any transaction where the interested party (transferor or transferee) is acting in their capacity as:

• Administrator
• Executor
• Custodian.

Any transaction where the interested party (transferor or transferee) is a foreign company without an ACN.

Any transaction where the transferee is an Association.

Any agreement to transfer land, where there is additional duty payable on the transfer (e.g. subsale transactions).

Any transaction where foreign transfer duty is payable (or exempted).

Any transaction that is assessed by State Revenue (e.g. not self-assessed).

EAS allows the submission of online requests for settlement information simultaneously to the Office of State Revenue, Landgate, the Water Corporation and some non-Water Corporation service providers to receive online rates and tax information.

For further information, or to subscribe to the EAS service and receive an EAS Agent ID, visit the Landgate website.

Through Online Duties, you can retrieve data that you previously entered into the EAS system when making enquiries on rates and taxes for settlement purposes by entering a known EAS Job Identity, searching the EAS system to locate an unknown EAS Job Identity, and auto-loading all relevant property and party details into the assessing screen (buyer, seller, land details and consideration).

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