Extension of Transfer Duty Concession to Water Assets

February 23, 2017

Succession planning for Queensland farming families has just been made that bit easier by the extension of the transfer duty concession to water assets involved in the operation of a primary production business.

Previously, the duty concession might have been available for the transfer of land from parents to children, but full duty was still payable on the transfer of a water allocation.  This was cold comfort for irrigators where the majority of the value was in the water, not the underlying land.

The same transfer duty exemption and conditions for land will now apply to the transfer of water assets, including water licences and water allocations.  For more information on the exemption conditions, read our previous publication on this topic here.

Where the concession applies, the dutiable value of the water assets included in the transaction will be nil, resulting in a complete exemption on duty.

Given the value water allocations represent as a proportion of the total value of a farming enterprise, this is great news for families considering a transfer of irrigated farms between family members.

When taken with the earlier changes broadening the exemption to transfers between family members other than just parent to child, including where the transferee makes a payment or assumes a debt, the viability of intergenerational transfers has certainly improved.

For more information please contact Norman Fox, Michael Cowley or Melissa Hill.

If you would like to read the announcement by Treasurer Curtis Pitt, please click here.