Duty valuations built to hold when the commissioner sends in their own valuer.

A business valuation for stamp duty establishes the dutiable value of business assets — goodwill, plant and intellectual property — where Queensland and Western Australia still charge duty on business transfers, and the land-versus-other-assets split where a landholder acquisition trips a state threshold. Prismi prepares independent apportionment schedules and landholder valuations, documented so the position holds when a state revenue office tests it with its own valuers.

When state duty turns on a valuation

Two state duty problems turn on valuation evidence. The first is duty on the business assets themselves — Queensland and Western Australia still charge transfer duty on goodwill, intellectual property and plant sold with a business, and the Northern Territory continues to assess agreements executed before its 9 May 2023 abolition. The second is landholder duty, which applies in every state and territory when a significant interest is acquired in a company or unit trust whose landholdings exceed the local threshold. In both cases duty is generally assessed on the higher of the consideration and the unencumbered value of the dutiable property, and every commissioner holds statutory power to obtain their own valuation and assess on it. An apportionment drafted to minimise duty and never independently supported is precisely what those powers exist for.

Where business assets are still dutiable

Queensland charges transfer duty on Queensland business assets — goodwill, intellectual property, statutory licences and plant transferred with the business — at rates of up to 5.75 per cent of dutiable value, so the split between dutiable and non-dutiable items moves real money. Western Australia charges duty on the transfer of a WA business, including goodwill and intellectual property connected with it, at general transfer duty rates. The Northern Territory abolished duty on non-land business assets for agreements executed on or after 9 May 2023, but agreements executed before that date remain assessable, and land, chattels conveyed with land, and mining and petroleum interests are still dutiable — so legacy and retrospective NT matters continue to arise. The remaining states abolished business-asset duty years ago, which is why so much published guidance skips the apportionment question entirely.

An apportionment schedule that survives substitution

The purchaser usually wants value weighted to depreciable plant; the vendor usually wants goodwill, where the CGT concessions live; and the duty outcome pulls in its own direction again. A schedule reverse-engineered from those tensions looks contrived, and commissioners are entitled to disregard it. A defensible schedule is built the other way: plant and equipment at market value rather than written-down book value, identifiable intangibles valued on their own evidence, and goodwill as the residual — then the components cross-checked against the value of the whole business on a capitalised-earnings basis, so the parts sum to a supportable total. Each element is valued on the Spencer willing-but-not-anxious basis, consistent with IVS 104 market value, and the same schedule should be capable of supporting the duty return, the income tax positions and the accounting entries. One number per asset, one set of reasoning, used everywhere — which is also how an independent schedule resolves the buyer-vendor standoff in the contract.

Landholder duty: when a share sale is really a land deal

Landholder duty applies when an acquisition of shares or units crosses a significant-interest threshold in an entity whose landholdings exceed the local value threshold — $2 million in NSW, Queensland and WA, $1 million in Victoria, $500,000 in Tasmania and the Northern Territory, while South Australia applies its provisions to residential and primary production land with no monetary threshold and the ACT operates its own regime. The significant-interest test is generally 50 per cent for private companies and 90 per cent for listed entities, and NSW now catches acquisitions of just 20 per cent in most private unit trusts. Law firms are good at flagging the thresholds; the valuation question they hand back is harder. Duty is assessed on the land component of the entity's value, so the split between land — including fixtures and improvements — and everything else the entity owns determines the assessment, and balance sheets almost never carry land at unencumbered market value.

If the commissioner sends in their own valuer

State revenue offices do not take apportionments on faith. Each has access to the Valuer-General or panel valuers, and where a split looks convenient the commissioner can commission a valuation and assess duty on it, leaving the taxpayer to object. Objections are decided on evidence, so the file assembled at the time of the transaction is what wins or loses them: methodology reasoning, comparable evidence, plant condition records, and a documented explanation of why the land or goodwill figure sits where it does. Prismi prepares that evidence and, where a matter is already in dispute, reviews the substituted valuation and reports honestly on where it is strong and where it is exposed. We prepare independent valuations only — we are not duty, tax or legal advisers, and no one can guarantee how a commissioner will decide. Your lawyer or accountant runs the objection; our report is what they attach to it.

Documents the schedule is built from

• ·Contract of sale or draft, including any apportionment clause already negotiated
• ·Three to five years of financial statements and current management accounts
• ·Asset register and depreciation schedule, with plant age and condition detail
• ·Intellectual property register — trade marks, patents, licences and business names
• ·Title details, leases and any recent land valuations for landholder matters
• ·Share or unit registers and a structure diagram where an entity acquisition is involved
• ·Any prior valuations or revenue office correspondence on the matter

Which engagement tier fits

A single-site business sale needing a supportable goodwill, plant and IP apportionment typically sits at the Comprehensive tier (from $3,995 + GST, 15–25 business days). Landholder matters — where the land split interacts with entity value across multiple landholdings — generally warrant the Defensible Valuation File (from $8,995 + GST, 25–35 business days), with additional entities at $750 each. Where a commissioner has already substituted a valuation, or an acquisition sits marginally above a threshold, the Valuation Range & Scenario Review premium engagement produces the structured range analysis an objection needs. Legacy NT agreements and historical acquisition dates are retrospective engagements and add $495 per historical date. Rush turnaround is available at +30 per cent of the base fee, subject to capacity. Fees are fixed at engagement and never contingent on the duty outcome.