GST and Property: A Primer for Lawyers - a series of 6 programs

GST and Property: A Primer for Lawyers

- a 6 program series

ABOUT THE SERIES

GST can apply to property transactions in the most surprising ways, because the ways on which property transactions are treated varies: they can be taxable supplies, input taxed supplies, out of scope supplies or GST-free supplies, depending on the nature of the beast. And because professional advisers who facilitate the transaction are property specialists rather than tax experts GST issues can easily be missed. The result? Unhappy clients!

This six-part series is designed to provide professionals who advise on property transactions a practical understanding of how GST interacts with property transactions. Chief among these is residential property developments, where developers have to decide whether to treat sales as taxable supplies or use the margin scheme. And recent changes to the law mean that purchasers will have to withhold GST at settlement and remit the monies to the ATO.

Then there is the Mum and Dad developer who just want to build a couple of units on their residential property, rent or reside in one and hive off the second to generate some cash. Do they need to register for GST? If they are registered, do they need to be. And of course you have the problem of the contract gone wrong because of GST: no-one thought of it, so can the purchaser call for a tax invoice and claim an input tax credit?

The New GST Withholding Regime: Changes to the GST Compliance Burden Involving New Premises

• Purchasers of new residential properties or land in new subdivisions will have to remit GST to the tax office. This will have a number of effects, including the need to amend contracts to protect the developer’s position. With the new regime commencing on 1 July 2018, now is the time to understand the key reforms. This session brings you up to date on the new regime covering the transitional rules, how the regime will operate in practice.

Residential Premises and New Residential Premises: What are they and why it matters!

• We all know what we mean by residential premises and what we mean by “new”. So it’s surprising that there have been so many cases on the meaning of those two terms. Why? Because when the terms appear in the GST Act they don’t necessarily mean what we might expect them to mean. That’s important because non-residential real estate is taxable and so is new residential real estate, but residential real property is input-taxed if it’s not new. So you need to know what you are dealing with or your client might get a nasty GST surprise!

GST Registration, the Meaning of Enterprise and the Mum and Dad Developer

• If you’re not registered or required to be registered for GST, you don’t have to account for it and you don’t need to add GST to the purchase price. Property costs, so that makes a big difference to the profitability of a development. If you’re a small developer, you may not even need to be registered or, if registered, you may be able to cancel it. It depends on whether you are carrying on an enterprise. This presentation will review the meaning of enterprise in the context of small property developer and discuss both registration and the cancellation of registration as a strategy to minimise the impact of GST.

Margin Scheme Howlers: Avoiding them Before They Happen

• The margin scheme is a favourite of residential property developers. It always sounds good in theory, but in practice attempts to use it often fail for want of attention to the detail. This presentation covers all the usual issues when using the margin scheme with a focus on the practical things your clients need to cover off on in order to ensure that their choice is effective and the GST results are not a disaster. Given the freewheeling and swashbuckling nature of many property developers, this is easier said than done!

Sales of Real Property as Going Concerns: Still Worth the Candle?

• Why sell taxable supplies of real property as a going concern? Is stamp duty liability minimisation the only reason? Is it worth it? Then there’s the question of whether you are really selling a going concern and, if you are, whether you have met the formal requirements of the going concern provisions. Finally, if you’ve ticked all the boxes and you have a going concern, could you get caught by the reverse charge rules in Division 135? These key issues will be examined in this presentation.

GST Clauses in Property Contracts: Getting It Right

• There have been many GST cases but by far the largest group are disputes over GST clauses. Getting them right is always harder than it seems: so often the parties either ignore the clause or they don’t even think about GST, and then trouble ensues. This presentation will examine the key issues in the light of the wealth of a steady stream of decided cases over the past 18 years.

These and many other issues are the focus of this important video webinar series on GST and Property, an ideal teaching tool for you and your firm’s professional staff.

The series is