The Tasmanian Government has introduced measures to:

amend the Land Tax Act 2000 (Tas) to, among other things, introduce a 2% foreign investor land tax surcharge for residential land acquired on or after 1 July 2022. Note: the measures will not apply to principal residence land held by foreign persons or to commercial residential properties such as hotels, boarding houses, housing provided by educational institutions, residential care facilities and retirement villages; and

• amend the Duties Act 2001 (Tas) to, among other things, clarify that commercial residential properties such as hotels, boarding houses, housing provided by educational institutions, retirement villages etc are not subject to the Foreign Investor Duty Surcharge (FIDs) – with effect from 1 July 2018 (the date the FIDS commenced). They also introduce duty surcharge relief for Tasmanian-based foreign developers that build at least 50 residential dwellings in Tasmania over a 12 month period.

The amendments to the Duties Act 2001 will also clarify that for the purposes of the application of the FIDS to SMSFs and testamentary trusts that members of SMSFs have a beneficial interest in the assets of the fund and beneficiaries of testamentary estates have a beneficial interest in the assets of the trust.