What it does
The Duties Act 2001 (Qld) is Queensland's principal state taxation statute imposing duty on a range of property, land, corporate, insurance, and business transactions. It replaced the Stamp Act 1894 and brought Queensland's duty regime into a single consolidated Act administered by the Commissioner of State Revenue.
The Act imposes multiple distinct duties across its chapters:
- Transfer duty (Chapter 2): imposed on dutiable transactions including transfers of dutiable property, agreements for transfer, vestings, surrenders, and related transactions.
- Landholder duty (Chapter 3, Part 1): imposed on acquisitions of interests in entities that hold Queensland land above the relevant threshold.
- Corporate trustee duty (Chapter 3, Part 2): imposed on relevant acquisitions by corporate trustees.
- Additional foreign acquirer duty (AFAD) (Chapter 4): imposed on certain transactions by foreign persons acquiring Queensland residential land.
- Mortgage duty (Chapter 5): historically imposed on mortgages securing amounts in Queensland; largely repealed for most mortgages but residual provisions remain.
- Insurance duty (Chapter 8): imposed on general insurance, life insurance, and accident insurance premiums or sums insured.
The Act also provides exemptions for corporate reconstructions (Chapter 10), a registration regime for insurers and self-assessors (Chapter 12), and review procedures (Chapter 13). The Commissioner of State Revenue administers all duties under the Act.