Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Amendment (Vacancy Fees and Other Measures) Regulations 2017 (F2017L01671)

Schedule 1   Amendments

Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Regulation 2015

3   After Division 4 of Part 3

Insert:

Division 4A - Exemptions relating to vacancy fees

43C Application of this Division

This Division applies in relation to the following provisions:

(a) subsection 115C(1) of the Act (liability for vacancy fees);

(b) any other provision of the Act (except sections 115D and 115G) to the extent that it relates to that subsection.

The provisions of the Act that this Division applies to are the excluded provisions .

43D Exemption - residentially occupied

(1) Subject to subsection (4), if a foreign person acquires an interest in residential land on which a dwelling is situated, the excluded provisions do not apply to the foreign person in relation to a vacancy year in the circumstances covered by subsection (2).

(2) The circumstances covered by this subsection are that, during the vacancy year, the dwelling was residentially occupied for fewer than 183 days for either or both of the following reasons:

(a) the dwelling was incapable of being occupiedas a residence;

(b) a person (who may or may notbe the foreign person) ordinarily occupying the dwelling as a residence was absent from the dwelling to receive medical care, or residential care (within the meaning of the Aged Care Act 1997), that is supported by evidence.

(3) Without limiting paragraph (2)(a), a dwelling is incapable of being occupied as a residence if:

(a) the dwelling is damaged, unsafe or is otherwise unsuitable to be occupied as a residence; or

(b) the dwelling is undergoing substantial repairs or renovations; or

(c) occupation of the dwelling as a residence is prohibited, or made impracticable, by an order of a court or tribunal or a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory.

(4) The excluded provisions apply to the foreign person in relation to a vacancy year if the foreign person is taken to be liable to pay a vacancy fee for that year under section 115C of the Act as a result of subsection 115D(3) of the Act.

Note: Subsection 115D(3) of the Act provides that a foreign person is liable to pay a vacancy fee, regardless of the number of days in a vacancy year the foreign person's dwelling was residentially occupied, if the Commissioner of Taxation is satisfied the person has not given a vacancy fee return to the Commissioner as required under section 115D of the Act.