Unincorporated association trust exemption (s.120) toolkit

This toolkit brings together everything you need to know about self assessing trust acquisitions or surrenders in unincorporated associations.

Under section 120 of the Duties Act 2001 an acquisition or surrender of a trust interest in particular unincorporated associations is exempt from transfer duty. This exemption applies to transactions where a person:

• becomes a member of the association in order to enjoy the benefits of membership and pays no consideration, other than the usual membership fees
• ends their membership in the association and receives no consideration, other than a refund of their membership fees.

The exemption applies to an unincorporated association that:

• has at least 7 members
• does not provide financial gain for its members
• does not, as its main purpose, hold any property in which the members have any right or disposable interest, including any right to income from use of the property
• does not raise funds from subscriptions, to loan to its members.

As a registered self assessor, if you determine that this exemption will apply to a transaction, you must self assess it in QRO Online.

Assessing an unincorporated association trust acquisition or surrender exemption

Use the section 120 unincorporated association interactive help to determine if you should apply this exemption to a transaction.

How to lodge online

You must complete all mandatory fields under each tab in QRO Online. Mandatory fields are marked with a red asterisk. There are some specific data entry 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 the name of the unincorporated association, including the nature of the transaction, in the text field in the Property section (e.g. Deed of variation adding James Dalton as a member of the Western Skydiving Association).
• The transferor is the person ceasing to be a member of the unincorporated association or, if there is no departing member, the trust.
• The transferee is the person who is becoming a member of the unincorporated association.
• 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.120 exemption acq/surr unincorporated association from the Exemption type drop-down list.

Records you need to keep

For this type of transaction, you must keep:

• a completed dutiable transaction statement (Form D2.2)
• a copy of the unincorporated association’s constitution
• a copy of the financial statements.

Find out more about your record-keeping obligations.

Also consider…

• See the data entry standards for QRO Online.
• Refer to Chapter 2 Part 13 of the Duties Act 2001 for exemptions for transfer duty.
• Read the transfer duty rates or use the transfer duty calculator to work out a duty liability.
• Read our endorsing examples if you are unsure how to stamp the documents for this exemption.
• Get help with QRO Online.
• View the list of approved transactions for self assessors.