Changes introduced under the Home Ownership and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2026

Welcome to the Queensland Revenue Office’s webinar on the recently commenced Home Ownership and Other Legislation Amendment Act of 2026. I’m Karen Spoto and I’m one of the Revenue Officers in the Queensland Revenue Office’s Self-Assessor Management Team.

In this session, I will be providing an overview of the legislation changes introduced under the Home Ownership and Other Legislation Amendment Act of 2026 which will be referenced throughout this presentation by the acronym HOOLAA.

The Bill makes amendments to revenue and grants legislation administered by the Commissioner of State Revenue to ensure its continued preparation and to protect state revenue.

During this webinar, I will be highlighting the specific amendments made by HOOLAA to the Duties Act 2001 and what they mean for you as self assessors. I will also be outlining the amendments to other acts but in an advisory capacity only.

This session contains a lot of information, so if you have any questions after the session, please feel free to contact us by email at selfassessment@treasury.qld.gov.au or by phoning us on 1300 300 734.

Please keep in mind that we can only provide information and not specific advice.

By way of background, the Home Ownership and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 was introduced into the Legislative Assembly on the 23rd of April 2026. Following consideration by the Governance, Energy and Finance Committee, the Bill was passed by Parliament on the 13th of October 2026.

The Bill received royal assent and was formally enacted on the 22nd of October 2026, meaning it then became the Home Ownership and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2026 or HOOLAA. All provisions of HOOLAA commenced on this day.

Now we have the background, let’s have an overview of the changes before we dive into what the HOOLAA amendments mean for self-assessors.

Overview

HOOLAA amends the following legislation administered by the Commissioner:

• the Duties Act 2001
• the Taxation Administration Act 2001
• the First Home Owner Grant and Other Home Owner Grants Act 2000
• the Land Tax Act 2010

and

• the Payroll Tax Act 1971.

This includes amendments to enable participants in the Queensland Government’s Boost to Buy and the Commonwealth Government’s Help to Buy shared equity programs to have the same access to transfer duty concessions, the first home owner grant and land tax exemptions as other home owners.

These amendments formalise legislation arrangements previously provided through Public Ruling GEN013.1 (Administrative Arrangement)—Application of revenue and grants legislation to Boost to Buy and Help to Buy participants. This public ruling has now been withdrawn.

For the Taxation Administration Act, the changes in HOOLAA clarify that a taxpayer seeking an appeal or review of related tax matters can proceed to either the Supreme Court or QCAT for those related tax matters, but not to both.

HOOLAA also amends the Taxation Administration Act to remove outdated references to collection and exchange boxes and update outdated cost references with other legislation.

The Duties Act 2001 has also been amended to extend the availability of the vehicle registration duty exemption for particular service persons to current Defence Force members (which was only previously available to former Defence Force members), where the current Defence Force members are entitled to concessional registration fees under the prescribed service person category under the Transport Operations (Road Use Management—Vehicle Registration) Regulation 2021.

An update has been made to the vehicle registration duty exemption for primary producers and the concessional vehicle registration duty rate for special vehicles to reflect commencement of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management—Vehicle Registration) Regulation 2021.

And finally, for the Payroll Tax Act, the amendments confirm the Commissioner may exclude a set of persons from a payroll tax group from the 31st of October 2018, which was previously being administered under an administrative arrangement.

For today’s information session, we will be focusing on the amendments directly related to you as registered transfer self-assessors, being the amendments to the Duties Act 2001. For further information for the other act changes, please refer to the announcements page on our website at qro.qld.gov.au.

Amendments to the Duties Act 2001

Let’s take a deeper dive into what the amendments to the Duties Act mean in the context of self assessed transfer duty transactions.

New sections 33A (Boost to Buy arrangement) and 33B (Help to Buy arrangement) in the Duties Act have been introduced.

The Queensland Government’s Boost to Buy scheme and the Commonwealth Government’s Help to Buy initiative are shared equity arrangements which help first home buyers enter the property market through government contribution to the purchase price.

The amendments ensure that where an eligible participant purchases a home under the Boost to Buy or Help to Buy program, the participant will be able to access the transfer duty home concessions in the same way as other home buyers, subject to meeting the relevant conditions.

These new sections also account for circumstances where a participant acquires further interests in the land over the course of these arrangements.

Under section 86, what is a home, a first home and a new home?

A new subsection (4A) has been inserted which provides that a home that has been previously sold as a place of residence may be a new home if it has only been previously sold as a place of residence under a builders’ terms arrangement.

A new subsection (6) of section 86 has also been inserted, which defines a builders’ terms arrangement as an arrangement under which a licensed builder enters into a contract with a developer of land to purchase land that is vacant and, under the contract, the builder is allowed to enter the land and build a residence on the land, and before settlement of that contract, the building is ready for occupation as a residence and a final inspection certificate has been issued in relation to building. Examples may include house and land packages.

Section 86C, which defines what is vacant land and residential vacant land, is amended to include two new subsections to expand the concept of vacant land for the purposes of the Duties Act.

The new subsection (1A) will allow land that, when the person acquired it, had a building or part of a building on the land to be taken to satisfies subsection (1)(b), provided each building or part of a building on the land is an eligible building.

New subsection (3) provides definitions of the Building Code of Australia and an eligible building. The definition of ‘Building Bode of Australia’ provides that you should see the Building Act 1975, section 12.

The eligible building definition provides that an eligible building means any building or part of a building that is on the land when the person acquired it, other than a building or part of a building that is fixed to land and designed or approved by a local government for human habitation by a single-family unit or a class 1 to 9 building under the Building Code of Australia.

Examples of an eligible building include a garden shed or other non-habitable structures.

Under section 87 (What is a residence), new subsections (2) and (3) have been inserted to clarify that for vacant land, a residence does not include a building or part of a building that was on the land when the person acquired it.

This will ensure that a residence to be constructed on the land for the purposes of vacant land must be a structure new and separate to any existing structures on the land when the person acquired the land.

Subsection A of Section 125 (Exemption—particular vestings of dutiable property) has been amended to reflect the commencement of the Property Law Act 2023 relating to the power of the court to appoint a trustee to sell or divide co-owned land with minor changes to modernised terminology.

For section 245N (Reassessment—non-compliance with requirements for AFAD concession under section 245G), subsection (2)(b)(i) has been amended to replace the reference to ‘financial year’ with ‘acquisition year’.

Section 43A, subsection 4 of section 43A (Exemption—Queensland Treasury Corporation and its affiliates) has been amended to omit the definition of the Queensland Treasury Corporation to reflect its addition to Schedule 6 of the Duties Act.

Chapter 17 in Part 32 of the Duties Act has been inserted to enact transitional provisions for HOOLAA.

Section 689 defines ‘new’ in relation to a provision of HOOLAA and means the provision as in force from the commencement.

Section 690 provides for a retrospective effect of section 33A where the provision and the definition of the Queensland Treasury Corporation inserted by HOOLAA into Schedule 6 is taken to have effect from the 15th of December 2025.

Section 691 provides for a retrospective effect of Section 33B which is taken to have effect from the 5th of December 2025.

Section 692 provides for the application of the new or amended section 86 in relation to particular homes.

New subsections 86 (4A) and (6) in relation to dutiable transactions for which liability for transfer duty arose are taken to apply on or after the 1st of May 2025.

Section 693 has been inserted to clarify that new sections 86C and 87 apply in relation to a dutiable transaction only if liability for transfer duty on the transaction arises on or after the commencement of the HOOLAA amendments. That is, for liabilities arising on or after the 22nd of October 2026.

The provision also confirms former sections 86C and 87 continue to apply to certain transfers or agreements for the transfer of vacant land made on or after the commencement such as in circumstances where the transfer or agreement replaces a transfer or an agreement for transfer that included the land and was made before the commencement.

It is important that you as self assessors understand the implications of deferring agreements in order to claim a concession for your clients and to ensure that transfers or agreements are not created for the sole purpose of avoiding tax.

Amendments have also been made to Schedule 6, which is the Dictionary of the Duties Act, to include a new definition of the Queensland Treasury Corporation, to mean the corporation sole mentioned in the Queensland Treasury Corporation Act 1988.

Changes to QRO materials

To implement the amendments, changes have been made to the guides for QRO’s approved forms D2.1, D2.2 and D2.7. No changes have been made to the forms themselves.

I’ll now talk you through what these changes to the guides look like.

Starting with the ‘Form D2.—Claim a home, first home or first home (new home) transfer duty concession’, in the ‘Special circumstances’ section of the guide, updates have been made to the requirements for evidence of a new home: first home (new home).

Changes have also been made to the ‘Meaning of terms’ section to add the term ‘builders’ terms arrangement’, and the term ‘new home’ has been updated to reflect the changes made to section 86.

Moving on to the ‘Form D2.2—Dutiable transaction statement’. In section ‘Part E—Concessions and exemptions of the guide’, a new exemption number 59 has been added to refer to the amendments in the Pharmacy Business Ownership Act 2024.

And finally, for the ‘Form D2.7—Claiming a first home vacant land transfer duty concession’, in the ‘Meaning of terms’ section, a new term has been added entitled ‘eligible building’ in line with the definition inserted in section 86C and the terms ‘residence’ and ‘vacant land’ have been updated to reflect the amendments made to sections 87 and 86 respectively.

Web publications have been updated to incorporate the changes, including relevant toolkits.

A website existing definitions have been updated and new definitions have been added. The new definitions are ‘builders’ terms arrangement’, ‘Building Code of Australia’ and ‘eligible building’.

The updated existing definitions are ‘new building’, ‘new home’, ‘substantially renovated home’ and ‘vacant land’.

QRO Online did not require any changes.

The Commissioner has updated Public Ruling TAA000.1.10—Part 6 of the Taxation Administration Act 2001—objections and appeals, which now reflects the consequential amendments from the Home Ownership and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2026.

Minor updates have also been made to improve the clarity of certain terminology in Public Ruling DA000.1.5—Private rulings on unexecuted instruments or proposed transactions, and as earlier, Public Ruling GEN013.1 (Administrative Arrangement)—Application of revenue and grants legislation to Boost to Buy and Help to Buy participants has been withdrawn.

Frequently asked questions

Before we finish this session, we’d like to go over some common queries about how these changes have affected home and first home vacant land concession claims.

1. Do the Boost to Buy and Help to Buy schemes affect a home concession claim?
   No. Participating in either scheme does not affect eligibility for a transfer duty home concession.

   The government is not listed on the property title, and its share is protected by a registered mortgage.

2. What’s changed in the definitions of what is a home, a first home, and a new home?
   Under a builders’ terms arrangement, a builder can build a home on a block of land before purchasing the land from a developer.

   The completed home may now qualify as a home, first home or a new home for a transfer duty concession, even though it was previously sold to the builder under this arrangement, provided the eligibility requirements are met.

3. How has the first home vacant land concession claim changed?
   Previously, a concession could not be claimed if a shed or other uninhabitable dwelling was in existence on the land at the time of purchase.

   Now land can be purchased with a shed on it and a concession claim, but a separate new home must be built on the land. Living in the shed does not qualify for the concession.

   However, it is important to note that this change only applies if the liability for transfer duty arises on or after the commencement of the HOOLAA amendments; that is, on or after the 22nd of October 2026, with the previous arrangements continuing for any liabilities arising up until the 21st of October 2026.

   Please also keep in mind that under the HOOLAA amendments, the previous arrangements also continue to apply to certain transfers or agreements for the transfer of vacant land made on or after the 22nd of October 2026 such as in the circumstances where the transfer or agreement replaces a transfer or an agreement for transfer that included the land and was made before the commencement.

Conclusion

Thank you for joining this session on the amendments to revenue and grants legislation administered by the Commissioner of State Revenue introduced under the Home Ownership and Other Legislation Amendment Act.

As noted earlier, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us after the session by email at selfassessment@treasury.qld.gov.au or by phoning us on 1300 300 734. Alternatively, please take a look at the assistance available on QRO’s website.

Thank you.