death and taxes in australia

Death and Taxes in Australia

Deceased Estates
death and taxes in australia

It’s been 40 years since Australia last imposed formal death duties (also known as Inheritance Tax) and 13 years since the Henry tax review (also known as Australia’s Future Tax System Review).

Now with all the pandemic payments being made by State and Federal Governments, all the treasurers are looking around for a convenient honeypot to raid.

Since the Baby Boomers are the ones with the assets, they are a logical target of Government ambition.

Baby Boomers could be asked to sell the family home when they die to pay for aged care costs under a plan to slap an effective death tax on seniors to fund care.

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Death and Taxes Ahead in SA

Estate Planning, Probate & Estate Administration
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Australia is the only western democracy in the world not to have some form of death duty. The USA, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland and New Zealand all have inheritance taxes.

Until the 1970’s each state and territory in Australia had some form of death duty or inheritance tax. But then Joh Bjelke Peterson as premier of Queensland abolished them in that state, and every other state government soon followed suit to remain competitive.

All State and Federal Governments are desperately looking to raise revenue in these difficult economic times, and every recent review of our tax system suggests that some form of inheritance tax will be back on the table.