Settlement payment of Land Tax in Victoria

[Tania]

SRO (Vic) have advised that Land Tax can't be paid through PEXA yet.  When I contacted SRO they advised that Land Tax has to be paid by cheque so I put the destination in as my Trust Account and then drew a cheque to send to SRO.

[VHowarth]

What is the protocol when land tax has to be paid at settlement bu the purchaser's Conveyancer does not have a trust account?

[andrew_rothfield]

That would be a problem.

Either (1) the Vendor could provide evidence that the amount owing for Land Tax was paid before settlement, or (2) the money would have to paid into a trust account that the purchaser's conveyancer can arrange for the cheque to the SRO to be drawn from.

[PMcKee1]

Hi Sue,

The BSB and account details are listed on all SRO Land Tax Assessments issued to customers. Very similar to a council rates notice.

Hope this helps,

Paul.

[PMcKee1]

Hi Tania,

You are correct in part.  The PEXA system and the SRO system were integrated to settle land transfer duty payments.  Land Tax electronic disbursements through the PEXA system were not originally catered for. However, we are hopeful that the PEXA system / SRO payment gateways can be enhanced to cater for these as electronic disbursements in the near future.

In the meantime Land Tax can continue to be paid electronically using BPAY, Credit Card and if required in person at a Westpac bank.  The electronic details are found on the Land Tax Assessment Notice that is sent to customers.    

Paul.

[AaronG]

Hi @PMcKee1

Echoing the sentiments of my fellow colleagues in the previous posts, the main benefit of using PEXA is that any payments can be made directly to the desired destination and there is no need for any party to spend time drawing cheques to post out or bank after settlement. Currently there is not a Land Tax category in PEXA when adding a destination.

Main Issues

• You have mentioned on a few posts that Land Tax Assessments can be paid electronically via BPAY. As advised by Amy, the risk with paying Land Tax using the BPay details on the vendor’s assessment notice is that if the vendor has other properties, the payment could be applied to land tax owing in respect of another property. This risk doesn't make it feasible for the Land Tax to be paid this way.
• If both parties in the transaction do not have a trust account (which happens a fair bit) then one of the parties must draw a cheque out of their own funds to pay the Land Tax

 As Land Tax is a required payment, for what seems like a majority of transactions these days, it would be great if a Land Tax category was added to the list of destinations so that the Land Tax can be paid directly to your office.

Is this addition currently in the pipeline? Can you please give the Community a time frame?

[BytheBay]

Will the issue of notifying payment details on a land tax clearance certificate be taken up with the SRO or addressed by them??  

Vendor representatives should be obtaining their clients assessment notice for entering any payment details as a VENDOR DESTINATION .. not forcing payment onto the Purchaser representative to take funds and attend to payment.   It should not be difficult for vendor reps to request this information from their clients.

[PMcKee1]

Hi AaronG,

I am across the issue on various levels along with the potential benefits that LTX payments in PEXA may bring for PEXA subscribers, however there is some complication.　

Land Tax payments have not been enabled in the initial SRO PEXA connectivity. 

A change is being investigated to provide the BPAY payment details/option on the S105 clearance certiicate, which will hopefully reduce both cheques and PEXA settlement issues in the medium term.　This will not address all payment allocation issues however, as S105 payments are for the single holding value of land tax owing on a property. A customer may owe a greater land tax liability across other assessments to be paid. 

Together with PEXA we may be able to address land tax payment issues with a more complete electronic solution, noting that this enhancement work is not funded or available at this time.

I hope this helps in some way.

Paul.　

　

[PMcKee1]

Hi BytheBay,

A change is being investigated to provide the BPAY payment details/option on the S105 clearance certificate.  This is not related to any changes in the PEXA system.

Paul.

[Karolidis_and_Co]

Hi all

Physical cheques on an eletronic only system so close to compulsory use is unacceptable to be frank. This needs to be sorted ASAP between the SRO and PEXA....