The State Taxes Convention remains the only national convention covering all state and territory taxes in one technical program, with this year’s convention taking place in Melbourne. As in previous years, all state and territory Revenue Commissioners were in attendance, together with representatives from their respective offices. With strong attendance from both the private and government sectors, the convention has always been a popular forum for interaction and networking among participants in the state taxes community. It is particularly valuable for those with practices operating across multiple jurisdictions.
The program once again featured the dual ‘duties’ and ‘payroll tax’ streams, with an increased focus on land tax within the duties stream. From a duties and land tax perspective topics include navigating the complex world of Build-to-Rent concessions, the holding of property by unit trusts, and the always intriguing question of what comprises “consideration”, and from a payroll tax perspective, issues relating to cross border employment, grouping (with a focus on trust and service entities) and wage remediation.