Commercial and Industrial Property Tax Reform The Victorian Government announced in the 2023-24 State Budget it will be progressively abolishing stamp duty on commercial and industrial property and replacing it with an annual tax, based on unimproved land value, called the Commercial and Industrial Property Tax ( the CIP Tax ). The CIP Tax regime will apply to commercial and industrial property transactions with both a contract and settlement date on or after 1 July 2024 .

During September 2023, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Support for Small Business and Charities and Other Measures) Bill 2023 ( the Bill ) was introduced to Parliament and has been thoroughly debated for the last six months. Last week, the Bill passed the Senate with some minor amendments proposed which need to be ratified by the House of Representatives before the Bill receives Royal assent. This Bill contains various small business tax measures, which include: A temporarily increase the instant asset write-off threshold for small and medium businesses from $1,000 to $30,000; Providing small and medium businesses with a bonus 20% deduction of the cost of eligible assets or improvements to existing assets that support electrification or more efficient energy use; and Limiting the amount of non-arm’s length income that arises relating to a general non-arm’s length expense and to narrow the application of these rules. We will discuss each of these small business tax measures in detail below.