Catchwords

TAXES AND DUTIES – STAMP DUTIES – WHAT TRANSACTIONS OR INSTRUMENTS ARE LIABLE – CONVEYANCE OR TRANSFER ON SALE – QUEENSLAND – appeal by way of Case Stated against an assessment of stamp duty upon an agreement for the sale of two pharmacy businesses in Townsville with associated equipment – where the purchaser executed a deed of partnership contemporaneously with an agreement for sale, providing for their carrying on business together in respective percentage shares – whether the respondent erred in holding that the Agreement for Sale was a contract or Agreement within the meaning of s 54(1) of the Stamp Act 1894 (Qld), and, if so, whether the assessment notice was valid and the duty assessed correct – where appellants contended that the legal effect of the agreement was to transfer only a certain percentage of that property, worth $1.3 million not the total purchase price of $3 million – where if one can lawfully transfer one’s property to oneself and another, the Commissioner could correctly levy duty on the overall consideration