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Queensland Government - Queensland Revenue Office
Queensland Government - Queensland Revenue Office

Family trust exemption (s.118) toolkit

This toolkit has everything you need to assess trust acquisitions or surrenders in family trusts in QRO Online.

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    Under section 118 of the Duties Act 2001, a family trust acquisition or surrender is exempt from transfer duty where the:

    • family trust is a discretionary trust
    • person acquiring or surrendering a trust interest is a family member or family company
    • person acquiring or surrendering a trust interest does not benefit in the capacity of trustee.

    The exemption also applies to trust acquisitions and surrenders in a family trust (discretionary or non-discretionary):

    • due to the birth or death of a family member
      or
    • when a person joins or ceases to belong to a class of beneficiaries made up of the children, stepchildren or grandchildren of a named family member.

    A family trust is one that is established and maintained primarily for the benefit of the members of a particular family or family company. For non-discretionary trusts, at least 90% of the trust interests must be held by members of the family or a family company.

    A family company is one in which all directors and shareholders are members of a particular family.

    If you are a registered self assessor and intend to apply this exemption to a transaction, you must self assess it in QRO Online.

    Assessing a family trust exemption

    Use the section 118 interactive help to determine if you should apply a family trust exemption to a transaction.

    How to lodge online

    You must complete all mandatory data fields under each tab in QRO Online. Mandatory fields are marked with a red asterisk. There are some specific data requirements.

    • Select Transfer—other than land as the Transaction Class.
    • Select Trust acquisition or trust surrender as the Type of dutiable transaction.
    • Select Trust—dutiable property as the Type of dutiable property.
    • Enter a detailed description of the transaction.
    • Answer Yes to the question: Is the consideration for this transaction less than the unencumbered value of the property included in this transaction?
    • Enter the unencumbered value of 100% interest in property if known; if unknown, enter $0.00 (nil).
    • Answer Yes to the question: Is an exemption being claimed?
    • Select s.118 exemption trust acq/surr in family trust from the Exemption type drop-down list.

    Records you need to keep

    For this type of transaction, you must keep:

    • copies of the documents, including a copy of the original family trust deed and any subsequent amending deeds
    • financial statements for the trust and any associated entities
    • a completed dutiable transaction statement (Form D2.2).

    Find out more about your record keeping obligations.

    Also consider…

    Last updated: 17 July 2024