Moving Property in WA
Without Stamp Duty
Western Australia provides corporate reconstruction duty relief for qualifying restructures within corporate groups — allowing property to be moved between related entities without full ad valorem stamp duty and, in many cases, without any duty at all.
The WA duty exemption — full exemption still available
Western Australia provides duty relief for transfers of dutiable property between related bodies corporate pursuant to a corporate reconstruction — under the Duties Act 2008 (WA). Unlike NSW (which moved to a 90% concession in February 2024), WA has maintained a full exemption for qualifying corporate reconstructions, subject to the Act’s conditions being satisfied.
The exemption requires a pre-approved reconstruction arrangement from the WA Office of State Revenue before the transfer occurs. The application must set out the details of the reconstruction, the entities involved and the property to be transferred. MGS Private prepares and lodges these applications.
- Full exemption from transfer duty for qualifying corporate reconstructions — no residual duty
- Qualifying “related body corporate” — the WA related-company test (different from NSW and federal income tax)
- Nature of the reconstruction — genuine restructure, not a step preliminary to a sale to an unrelated party
- Pre-approved reconstruction arrangement required from WA OSR before the transfer occurs
- The property must transfer within the approved arrangement period
- CGT consequences of the WA property transfer must be separately managed — the exemption covers duty only
- GST on the transfer — going concern exemption or taxable supply? This must also be separately assessed
Key Differences from NSW
Why WA is more favourable for many corporate restructures
WA property to be moved within a corporate group?
The exemption requires pre-approval from WA OSR — brief MGS Private through your accountant before proceeding.