Part 1Preliminary

Part 1—Preliminary 1—Short title This Act may be cited as the Land Tax Act 1936. 2—Interpretation (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears— administration trust means a trust under which the assets of a deceased person are held by a personal representative, but only during the period ending on the earlier of— (a) the completion of administration of the deceased estate; or (b) the third anniversary of the death of the deceased person or the further period (if any) approved by the Commissioner under subsection (1a); assessment or reassessment means an assessment or reassessment by the Commissioner under Part 3 of the Taxation Administration Act 1996; association includes— (a) a group consisting of 2 or more persons (whether or not incorporated); and (b) any person, or group of persons, holding land on trust (whether or not incorporated); beneficiary of a discretionary trust means a person, or a member of a class of persons, in whom, by the terms of the trust, the whole or any part of the trust property may be vested— (a) in the event of the exercise of a power or discretion in favour of the person (whether or not that power is presently exercisable); or (b) in the event that a discretion conferred under the trust is not exercised; business of primary production means the business of agriculture, pasturage, horticulture, viticulture, apiculture, poultry farming, dairy farming, forestry or any other business consisting of the cultivation of soils, the gathering in of crops, the rearing of livestock or the propagation and harvesting of fish or other aquatic organisms and including the intensive agistment of declared livestock; child maintenance land means land held on trust that was transferred to the trustee for the benefit of a beneficiary as the result of a family breakdown within the meaning of section 102AGA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 of the Commonwealth; the Commissioner means the person appointed or acting as the Commissioner of State Taxation, and includes a person appointed or acting as a Deputy Commissioner of State Taxation (see Part 9 of the Taxation Administration Act 1996); Commonwealth Superannuation Act means the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 of the Commonwealth; company includes any corporate body; concessional trust means— (a) a trust of which each beneficiary is— (i) a person in respect of whom a guardianship order or an administration order is in force under the Guardianship and Administration Act 1993; or (ii) a person with a disability within the meaning of the Disability Services Act 1993; or (b) a trust created under an order of a court or tribunal, or otherwise created under an Act, for the benefit of a person under disability; or (c) a special disability trust (within the meaning of section 5); (d) a trust of a kind prescribed by the regulations; controlling interest—see section 13H; corporation has the same meaning as in section 9 of the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth; declared livestock means— (a) cattle, sheep, pigs or poultry; or (b) any other kind of animal prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition; defined rural area means an area declared by the Governor by proclamation to be a defined rural area; defined shack-site area means an area declared by the Governor by proclamation to be a defined shack‑site area; determination of site value in relation to land means a determination or assessment of site value in force under the Valuation of Land Act 1971; discretionary trust means a trust under which the vesting of the whole or any part of the trust property— (a) is required to be determined by a person either in respect of the identity of the beneficiaries or the quantum of interest to be taken, or both; or (b) will occur in the event that a discretion conferred under the trust is not exercised, but does not include an excluded trust; document means book, account, paper (including a security or any instrument) or any record of information, whether in writing or accessible only through the use of a computer or other device; excluded trust means each of the following: (a) a charitable trust; (b) a concessional trust; (c) a trust the sole beneficiary or beneficiaries of which is or are an association referred to in section 4(1); (d) a trust, for any tax year in relation to which it is a superannuation trust; (e) a trust established by a superannuation trust solely for the purposes of an arrangement of a kind authorised under section 67A of the Commonwealth Superannuation Act; (f) a trust that holds child maintenance land; (g) an administration trust; fixed trust means a trust that is not an excluded trust, a discretionary trust or a trust to which a unit trust scheme relates; land used for primary production means land of not less than 0.8 hectare in area as to which the Commissioner is satisfied that the land is used wholly or mainly for the business of primary production; land tax means any tax imposed by this Act; listed trust has the same meaning as in the Stamp Duties Act 1923; notice means any notice, written or printed, or partly written or partly printed; owner— (a) in relation to land alienated from the Crown by grant in fee simple means any person (other than a mortgagee of the land)— (i) who holds; or (ii) who is entitled to; or (iii) who is entitled to purchase or acquire, a legal or equitable estate of fee simple in the land or any other estate or interest (other than an estate or interest of leasehold) in the land conferring a right to possession of the land; and (b) in relation to land of the Crown subject to any agreement for sale, or right of purchase, means the person entitled to the benefit of that agreement or right of purchase; and (c) in relation to land held under perpetual lease, means the holder of that lease; and (d) in relation to land held under a shack site lease, means the holder of that lease; and (e) in relation to land in a defined shack-site area, means the occupier of the land; and (f) in any case, includes a person who is deemed by this Act to be an owner; public unit trust scheme means a listed trust or a widely held trust; related corporations—see section 13G; residential land exemption means an exemption under section 5(10)(a), (ab), (ac), (ad), (b), (ba) or (bb); retirement village means retirement village as defined in the Retirement Villages Act 1987; shack site lease means a lease for the occupation of land for holiday, recreational or residential purposes where— (a) the land is situated on or adjacent to the banks of the River Murray, a tributary of the River Murray, or a lake or lagoon connected with the River Murray or a tributary of the River Murray; and (b) the lease was, as at midnight on 30 June, 1989, registered over the relevant land; and (c) the term of the lease is at least 40 years; site value in relation to land has the meaning assigned by the Valuation of Land Act 1971; superannuation trust means, in relation to a financial year, a trust established before the start of the financial year that, in relation to the year of income ending in that financial year, is— (a) a complying superannuation fund (within the meaning of section 42 or 42A of the Commonwealth Superannuation Act); or (b) a complying approved deposit fund (within the meaning of section 43 of the Commonwealth Superannuation Act); or (c) a pooled superannuation trust (within the meaning of section 44 of the Commonwealth Superannuation Act); tax in respect of land means land tax in respect of the land, and includes— (a) penalty tax payable under Part 5 of the Taxation Administration Act 1996 in respect of failure by the taxpayer to pay, in accordance with this Act, the whole or part of the land tax; and (b) interest payable under Part 5 of the Taxation Administration Act 1996 in respect of a failure referred to in paragraph (a), or a failure to pay penalty tax referred to in that paragraph; taxable value—see section 7; taxpayer includes every person who is liable to pay tax; trade includes profession, trade, business, and avocation. trust— (a) includes an administration or testamentary trust under which property of a deceased person is held by a personal representative or trustee (but only once the personal representative or trustee is actually holding the property); and (b) does not include an implied, constructive or resulting trust, except where expressly provided by this Act; trustee includes trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, liquidator and any person having or taking upon themselves the possession, administration, or control of land, income, or other property of any description affected by any trust, or having the possession, control, or management of land of a person under any legal or other disability; unit in a unit trust scheme, means— (a) a right or interest (whether described as a unit or a sub‑unit or otherwise) of a beneficiary under the scheme; or (b) a right to any such right or interest, that entitles the beneficiary to participate proportionately with other unitholders in a distribution of the property of the trust on its vesting; unit trust scheme means an arrangement made for the purpose, or having the effect, of providing facilities for participation by a person, as a beneficiary under a trust, in any profit or income arising from the acquisition, holding, management or disposal of property under the trust, but does not include an excluded trust; widely held trust has the same meaning as that term would have in the Stamp Duties Act 1923 if a reference in section 97(1) of that Act to "300 unitholders" were a reference to "50 unitholders". (1a) For the purposes of paragraph (b) of the definition of administration trust in subsection (1), the Commissioner may approve a further period in any particular case. (1b) A proclamation made for the purposes of the definition of defined rural area or defined shack-site area in subsection (1)— (a) may be varied or revoked by subsequent proclamation by the Governor; and (b) is effective from a day (which may be antecedent or subsequent to the day on which it is made) determined by the Governor. (1c) For the purposes of this Act, the various capacities in which a person may be the owner of land are as follows: (a) as legal owner; (b) as equitable owner; (c) as prospective owner (ie a person who has entered into a contract to purchase or acquire an estate or interest in the land); (d) as lessee under a perpetual lease or a shack-site lease; (e) if the land is in a defined shack-site area—as occupier. (1d) For the purposes of this Act, a trustee's right of indemnity from the trust property is taken not to be a beneficial interest in the land subject to the trust. (2) If— (a) the whole of the land owned by a company consists of a group of dwellings and land appurtenant to those dwellings; and (b) all the issued shares of the company are owned by shareholders who acquire exclusive rights to occupy land of the company by virtue of their shareholdings in the company; and (c) each dwelling owned by the company is occupied (or able to be occupied) by a shareholder in the company or a person deriving rights of occupancy from a shareholder in the company; and (d) the scheme of company ownership and shareholder occupation of the dwellings was established before 22 February 1968, then each dwelling will be taken to be a separate parcel of land and, despite the definition of owner in subsection (1), the shareholder who is entitled to occupy the dwelling (and not the company) will be taken to be the legal owner of the land on which the dwelling is situated. (3) If— (a) land is held under a tenancy in common; and (b) the land is divided into separate portions and the owner of each undivided share in the land is entitled under a lease registered over the title to the land to occupy a particular portion of the land, then the land will not be treated as a single parcel of land in multiple ownership but rather each owner of an undivided share in the land will be regarded as the owner of the portion of the land that the owner is entitled to occupy under the lease.