9.1 There are two situations that can arise where the duties statement may be required to be amended and retrieved - either prior to, or post settlement once the Duty Settlement Statement is ‘claimed’ and duty becomes payable 28 days after settlement. Both situations are dealt with below.
9.2 Duties Statement amended by Transferee / Transferor conveyancing representative
Once all of the relevant data in relation to the property transaction has been completed by the Vendor’s representative (Transferor Statement) and the Purchaser’s representative (Transferee Statement), the information and form are locked. The clients
are then asked by their respective conveyancing representatives to either sign the physical form, or an invite is sent through the SRO Duties Online platform for the Transferee(s) and Transferor(s) to sign the form digitally (online).
Should one of the parties unilaterally amend their client’s information, either due to a change in circumstances, or because of an error, the SRO will send an e-mail notification to the other party’s conveyancing representative, notifying that party that there has been an amendment to the transferee/transferor form.
If the Transferee(s) or Transferor(s) have already signed the duties statement, it will automatically be unsigned (the SRO will warn you that the form will be ‘unsigned’ prior to you amending the form).
The form will then require you to retrieve the form on the SRO Duties Online platform and ‘confirm’ the relevant data now updated in the Transferee/Transferor duty form.
9.3 Duty Settlement Statement claimed
Where a settlement statement has been effectively ‘claimed’ and the conveyancing transaction is then required to be submitted manually, the purchaser will essentially pay a double duty on the transaction.
In this situation, the purchaser has paid the stamp duty through PEXA and Duties Online, and will also pay stamp duty at LUV when lodging the paper transfer.
The SRO has resolved this by escalating the refund request, and it has been reported that these types of situations have been reducing as users become more accustomed to the online and manual processes.
There is currently no ability for Duties Online to apply the following duty exemptions in a PEXA settlement:
1. Foreign spouse exemption
This exemption cannot be processed by the State Revenue Office prior to settlement. The stamp duty surcharge must be paid at settlement via Duties Online and then claimed as a refund post settlement.
2. First Home Buyer Grant – where there is no financier involved
Only an approved agent of the State Revenue Office can obtain the FHOG grant for settlement.
3. Aggregation
There is no functionality in Duties Online to aggregate consideration paid for various transactions so that the amount of ad valorem duty payable is assessed at a higher amount.