1051819171435 | Legal database

Disclaimer
You cannot rely on this record in your tax affairs. It is not binding and provides you with no protection (including from any underpaid tax, penalty or interest). In addition, this record is not an authority for the purposes of establishing a reasonably arguable position for you to apply to your own circumstances. For more information on the status of edited versions of private advice and reasons we publish them, see PS LA 2008/4.

Edited version of private advice

Authorisation Number: 1051819171435

Date of advice: 7 April 2021

Ruling

Subject: GST and the sale of real property

Question

When you sell the n lots of vacant land located at the specified address(es) (The Land), will you be making a taxable supply under section 9-5 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (the GST Act)?

Answer

No, your sale of The Land will not be a taxable supply under section 9-5 of the GST Act as you are not carrying on an enterprise in relation to the supply of The Land. Accordingly, GST will not be payable on the supply.

Relevant facts and circumstances

You are a non-resident of Australia. You are not currently registered for GST.

In yyyy, you purchased n block(s) of vacant land at the specified address(es) (The Land).

• The property identifiers are:

Property identifiers of The Land

Property

Volume and Folio

Lot number

Plan number

address(es)

Volume number

Folio number

Lot number

number

• The Land has never been developed or subdivided and remains vacant land as it was when you purchased it.

• The only work done on The Land is the clearing of grass in accordance with Council requirements.

You have recently been negotiating with a potential buyer regarding the sale of The Land.

• The sale price for the Land is $x under the draft contract to be executed.

• The draft contract arose from a private sale and not from listing on the market.

You were registered for GST from ddmmyyyy as you were carrying on an enterprise in a specified industry at that time. When you sold the enterprise, your remaining Australian assets were only The Land and your bank accounts.

In mmyyyy you cancelled your GST registration as you considered you were no longer required to be registered for GST, as your GST turnover was below the registration turnover threshold of $75,000 and you were not conducting an enterprise. You also considered your only activity consisted of holding The Land on capital account.

Other than The Land, you do not currently own any other property in Australia or overseas. Your real property dealings in Australia include properties as summarised in tables 1 and 2 below:

Table 1: All properties that you have previously owned or co-owned

Property	Number of owners	Date purchased	Date of sale	Period of ownership	Property description at time of purchase	Property use after purchase and prior to sale	Improvements or developments during ownership period
address(es)	number	yyyy	yyyy	number years	description	specified uses(es)	None

Table 2: All properties that you currently own or co-own

Property	Number of owners	Date purchased	Date of proposed sale	Period of ownership	Property description at time of purchase	Property use after purchase and prior to sale	Improvements or developments during ownership period
address(es)	number	yyyy	yyyy	number years	description	specified use(es)	None

Relevant legislative provisions

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 9-5

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 9-40

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 subsection 9-20(1)

Copyright notice

You are free to copy, adapt, modify, transmit and distribute material on this website as you wish (but not in any way that suggests the ATO or the Commonwealth endorses you or any of your services or products).