What Is a Purchaser Declaration? The NSW Form Every Buyer Signs
It looks like routine paperwork, but it answers one question that can add 9% to your duty bill: are you a foreign person?
Most buyers sign the purchaser declaration without really reading it. It arrives with everything else, it takes a few minutes, and then the contract goes off to be stamped. But it is the document that tells Revenue NSW whether you are a foreign person, and that single answer decides whether you pay an extra 9% of the purchase price in surcharge purchaser duty. You sign it under penalty, not us.
At a glance
- Every purchaser completes their own declaration. Two names on title means two separate declarations.
- Its job is to tell Revenue NSW whether you are a foreign person for surcharge purchaser duty.
- Surcharge purchaser duty has been 9% of the dutiable value since 1 January 2025, payable on top of normal transfer duty.
- Australian citizens are not foreign persons. Permanent residents, visa holders, trusts and companies need to look closely.
- If you are not declaring as a foreign person, you need certified evidence to back it up, so start gathering it early.
What the purchaser declaration actually is
The full name is the Purchaser/Transferee Declaration. It is a Revenue NSW form that goes in with your contract when the transaction is assessed for transfer duty. There are two versions: one for individuals and one for corporations and trustees, which an authorised officer signs.
It applies to more than a normal purchase. If land in NSW is transferred to you at all, including a family transfer, a gift or a transfer out of a deceased estate, you complete one.
In plain English
The declaration is the government asking you one question: are you a foreign person? Every other box on the form is there to prove your answer.
Why it matters: the 9% surcharge
If you are a foreign person buying residential related property in NSW, you pay surcharge purchaser duty on top of the transfer duty everyone pays. The rate rose from 8% to 9% on 1 January 2025, and it is charged on the dutiable value, which is the greater of the purchase price or the value of the property.
On a $900,000 purchase, that is $81,000 in surcharge alone, sitting on top of your ordinary stamp duty. It is not a rounding error, and first home buyer concessions do not reduce it.
What buyers assume
“I’m on a visa and I live here, so obviously I’m not foreign.”
“We’re buying through the family trust, so foreign buyer rules have nothing to do with us.”
“The conveyancer fills that form in.”
What actually happens
Temporary visas and bridging visas are treated as foreign for this purpose, whether or not you live here. A discretionary trust can be deemed foreign because of who could benefit under the deed, even when every buyer is Australian. And the declaration is yours to sign, on your evidence. We prepare it and we advise on it, but the statement is yours.
Who Revenue NSW treats as a foreign person
You are generally not a foreign person if you are:
- An Australian citizen, wherever you live
- A permanent resident who has been in Australia for at least 200 days in the 12 months before the contract date
- An exempt permanent resident, meaning you buy as an individual and live in the property as your principal place of residence for 200 continuous days within the first 12 months
- A New Zealand citizen holding a special category visa (subclass 444) who meets the residence requirement
- A holder of a partner (provisional) visa (subclass 309 or 820) who meets the residence requirement
- A holder of a retirement visa (subclass 405 or 410) who meets the residence requirement
If you hold a temporary visa or a bridging visa and none of those apply, you are a foreign person and the surcharge is payable.
One piece of old advice still circulating: in 2023 Revenue NSW accepted that international tax treaties exempted citizens of countries including New Zealand, Finland, Germany, India, Japan, Norway, South Africa and Switzerland. Federal law changed that on 8 April 2024. Those exemptions are gone, so anyone relying on an article written before then is working from the wrong rules.
“The form takes ten minutes. Getting it wrong can cost tens of thousands.”
The trust and company trap
This is where Australian buyers get caught. A discretionary or family trust can be treated as a foreign person if the terms of the trust deed allow a foreign person to benefit, even where nobody involved is foreign and nobody ever intends to distribute overseas. The test is what the deed permits, not what the trustee plans to do.
Companies work on a similar principle. Foreign shareholding above the relevant thresholds can make the company a foreign person for surcharge purposes.
If you are buying through a trust or a company, send us the deed or the structure before you exchange, not after. Amending a deed to exclude foreign beneficiaries is straightforward. Paying 9% because nobody checked is not.
What you need to do
There is very little to it, provided it happens early rather than in the week before settlement.
One declaration for each purchaser
Joint buyers each complete and sign their own. A company or trustee purchaser signs through an authorised officer.
Gather your evidence
If you are not declaring as a foreign person, Revenue NSW expects certified copies of documents proving identity, citizenship and residency. Depending on your situation that can include:
- Passport and birth certificate or citizenship certificate
- Your Australian visa
- International movement records from the Department of Home Affairs, which prove the 200 days
Get it back to us before stamping
The contract cannot be assessed for duty without it, and duty has to be paid before your transfer can be lodged. A missing declaration is a genuine cause of delayed settlements.
Tell us early about anyone overseas
Movement records take time to request, and a purchaser sitting on a bridging visa or spending long periods out of the country changes the answer. Better to know at the offer stage than at exchange.
Buying with a partner on a visa, or through a trust? Send us the contract and we’ll work out your duty position before you exchange.
When surcharge purchaser duty is paid
If it applies, surcharge purchaser duty is payable on the earlier of 3 months from the contract date, or on or before settlement. Paying later than 3 months after the contract date can attract interest and penalties, which matters on long settlements and off the plan purchases where completion is well over 3 months away.
The other foreign buyer rule people confuse it with
Surcharge purchaser duty is a NSW state tax. Separately, the federal government has banned foreign persons from buying established dwellings in Australia. That ban started on 1 April 2025 and has been extended to 30 June 2029, with only limited exceptions.
Permanent residents and New Zealand citizens are not caught by the ban, and neither are spouses of Australian citizens, permanent residents or New Zealand citizens buying together as joint tenants. But if your declaration answer is “yes, foreign person”, there may be a federal question sitting behind the state one, and that is worth sorting out before you sign anything.
What happens if the declaration is wrong
Revenue NSW audits duties transactions and can investigate anyone who has been liable for duty in NSW over the past 5 years. If an exemption was claimed on a condition you did not end up meeting, for example you claimed the exempt permanent resident exemption and then never moved in for the required 200 days, the duty becomes payable and interest and penalties can follow.
If you realise something is wrong, a voluntary disclosure is far better than waiting to be found. Keep your records for at least 5 years, including the proof you lived in the property: utility bills, insurance, licence, electoral enrolment.
The short version
The purchaser declaration is a short Revenue NSW form that every purchaser signs, and it exists to work out whether you are a foreign person. Get the answer right and it is a five minute job. Get it wrong, or overlook a trust deed or a visa condition, and it is 9% of the purchase price plus interest. Tell your conveyancer about every purchaser’s citizenship and visa status as early as you can, and the form takes care of itself.
Not sure where you stand?
Talk to Justin, Julie, Amanda or Nicole. We’ll check your duty position, prepare your declaration and tell you what evidence you need before it holds up your settlement.
