Navigating GST Complexities in Property Matters - Recorded Online Conference

You can put your staff in the boardroom and watch it there. You can watch it on your computer or on your portable electronic device. All for the same low price.

The conference will be based on our highly successful video webinar technology: there’ll be a chairperson, a panel of experts, presentations and discussion.

Session 1: Calculating the Margin Scheme in Property Matters: Practical Compliance Imperatives

Beyond the technical operation of Division 75, the use of the margin scheme requires understanding the practical implications of how it will apply to specific scenarios. This session steps through the use of the margin scheme in specific facts and circumstances, including:

• Using lookback to support the margin scheme when the property was bought as part of going concern:

  • Best practice ways to manage at the time of transaction

  • Options to get lookback information post facto

• Worked examples of how to calculate margin scheme on common scenarios including:

  • Sale of two townhouses on subdivided suburban block, one being a 4-bedroom three storey townhouse and one being a 3-bedroom two storey townhouse

  • Mixed used acquisition: sale of property with retail shop at ground floor and residential apartment at first floor

  • Supply of land acquired before 1 July 2000

Session 2: Variations on a Theme of GST Clauses

Every tax adviser has experienced the last-minute request to review the GST clause in a sales agreement. How do you know whether it’s fit for purpose? This session steps through the components of a standard GST clause and then explores how this might vary for different scenarios including for:

• Farm land sales

• Supply of a going concern

• Sale of new residential premises requiring GST withholding

• The effective use of cascading clauses: MSAUS Pty Ltd as the Trustee for the Melissa Trust v Commissioner of Taxation [2017] AATA 1408

Session 3: Application of GST to Mixed Purpose Property Developments

The characterisation of real property supplies for GST purposes becomes more complex in mixed purpose properties. This session shows you how to conduct your analysis by reference to two mixed use scenarios. First, integrated communities (with residential premises, social and affordable housing, retail, and commercial zones); second, a farm with homestead, curtilage and paddocks. Topics covered include:

• Identifying and analysing the components

• Identifying costs and appropriate apportionment

• Using a ‘fair and reasonable method of apportionment’ – what does that mean?

  • Options for making a fair and reasonable allocation – which to choose?

• Provision of services as consideration for supply – appropriate reporting and valuation of supply for GST purposes (eg Taxpayer Alert 2018/3)

• Division 135 increasing adjustments where property sold as GST-free going concern

• Where homestead + curtilage is sold – how big an area can constitute curtilage for GST purposes?