RevenueWA eNewsletters

Guidance
Information about legislative changes, publications and customer education activities.
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February 2024

Payroll tax, insurance duty and online duties

Keeping your email and postal addresses in Revenue Online up-to-date ensures you receive important messages and timely notifications from us which may help you avoid late payment penalties. 

Find out how to update your contact details.

 

Online duties

Online Duties users can self-assess eligible transactions. See the online duties transaction guidelines to determine whether a transaction can be self-assessed before you lodge it for assessment. 

If a transaction is eligible to be self-assessed and you lodge it with RevenueWA for an urgent assessment, it will be assessed in date order of lodgment. 

Only lodge a request for an urgent assessment if the matter is urgent and the transaction cannot be self-assessed. See the ‘Assessment Services and Procedures’ revenue ruling and the ‘urgent assessments information requirements’ for details about how and when to lodge an urgent request. We won’t prioritise a non-urgent assessment just because an urgent request has been lodged.

 

Land tax

We received a high number of enquiries in December and January which means we are not responding as quickly as usual.

  • If you sent an enquiry to us, it may take four to six weeks to receive a response.
  • If the due date for your assessment passes while you're waiting for a response, we'll allow reasonable time for you to pay without penalty. 

See the pay land tax web page for details about the different ways to pay your assessment or to apply for a payment arrangement.

 

First home owner grant

Applicants can use the online FHOG Application Portal to apply for the first home owner grant and/or pre-approval for the first home owner rate of duty. 

Third parties, such as brokers or settlement agents, can lodge applications via a web enquiry or by mail. 

Agents and applicants can also use the Online Services Portal to check the progress of applications. 

See the FHOG Lodgement Guide for more information.

December 2023

What you need to know about our end of year closedown

The Department of Finance will be closed from COB Friday 22 December and will reopen on Tuesday 2 January.

The public counter will be closed. Customers needing to attend RevenueWA in person for an immediate assessment or to make a payment will need to attend the office on or before COB Friday 22 December. 

Call centres will be closed and technical support will not be available. 

We have extended the due date to lodge and pay your payroll tax return for December 2023 to midnight 15 January 2024. Please ignore any correspondence requesting you to pay your return earlier than that. 

The final FHOG payments for 2023 will be processed on Friday 22 December. To be processed before we close:

  • your application must have an approved status in FHOG Online by 21 December and
  • the payment eligibility date must be on or before 22 December. 

For transactions to be self-assessed at the FHOR of duty during the closedown period, the FHOR pre-approval application must have an approved status by 22 December. 

We will recommence processing applications and making payments on Tuesday 2 January 2024. 

You can check the progress of an application in the Online Services Portal. 

You can continue lodging transactions, paying assessments and printing certificates of duty electronically during the shutdown period. However, if you have settlement during this time we recommend you:

  • pay assessments by 19 December for transactions that were not lodged electronically, to allow payments to clear and certificates of duty to issue
  • submit your request for a no double duty certificate by 20 December so it can be reviewed and approved. 

You can continue to self-assess eligible transactions and settle by e-conveyancing during the shutdown period. Payment will be due in the month after the certificate of duty is printed. 

If you print a certificate of duty in December but settlement doesn't go ahead, you can void the certificate before 15 January 2024 (the due date of your December return) so that payment of duty won't form part of the December return. 

You can use EAS to lodge a request for a certificate of land tax charges and receive the certificate during our shutdown period. 

If your request requires manual processing, lodge the request by 20 December to receive the certificate before our shutdown period. We will recommence manual processing on Tuesday 2 January 2024. 

We cannot withdraw memorials from Friday 22 December 2023 to Monday 1 January 2024. 

If you need a memorial withdrawn because a settlement is due to fall within these dates, please contact us at recovery@finance.wa.gov.au no later than 20 December. 

We will be able to withdraw a memorial if the licensed conveyancer provides a written undertaking confirming the outstanding amount will be paid to RevenueWA immediately after settlement.

Illegal phoenix activity is when a company is liquidated, wound up or abandoned to avoid paying its debts. A new company is then started to continue the same business activities without the debt. 

Illegal phoenix activity is not victimless. It creates an uneven playing field and causes significant harm to the community and other businesses. 

Through the Phoenix Taskforce, the ATO and other federal state and territory agencies, including RevenueWA, are working together to detect, deter and disrupt illegal phoenix businesses; removing their ability to operate, applying financial penalties and prosecuting the worst offenders. 

If you know of or suspect illegal phoenix activity, report it anonymously to the ATO or RevenueWA

  • Complete the tip-off form
  • Phone the Phoenix Taskforce on 1800 060 062
  • Phone RevenueWA on 9262 1380

Use your digital identity to sign in To link your digital identity to your Revenue Online account: 

  • log in to Revenue Online 
  • select Maintain myGovID 
  • follow the on-screen instructions to complete the association process. 

Only the account administrator can link accounts. 

After you have linked your digital identity with your Revenue Online account, you can log in to Revenue Online by clicking the Sign in using your digital identity button. 

See www.mygovid.gov.au and info.authorisationmanager.gov.au for more information. 

It is now possible to use an ELNO to settle a self-assessed transaction where the interested party is acting in their capacity as a custodian. Use the 'Custodian' capacity type and enter the information as specified on the contract. 

We are currently encountering an issue in which some transactions where the interested party is acting in their capacity as Administrator, Executor or Trustee in Bankruptcy may not be able to be settled using an ELNO. We are hoping to resolve this early next year. 

On 26 November, the State Government announced the final date for applications would be extended to 31 March 2024. 

If you were living in a property on 9 May 2023 and were charged for your electricity use by a provider other than Synergy or Horizon Power, you may be eligible for the Household Electricity Credit. Apply by 31 March 2024 if you haven’t already received a payment or lodged an application. 

See information about the eligibility criteria and how to apply

The Government has announced changes to the construction exemption timeframes for properties for which construction commenced between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2023. 

See how the changes apply to exemptions relating to moving to a new or renovated home or building a new home.