Background
We commissioned the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) to research the persons or entities that influence tax related decisions made by property developers.
The report identifies:
- What is the lifecycle of a property development?
- Who are the key influencers of property decisions at each stage of the lifecycle?
- What tax advice are they providing at each stage of the lifecycle?
About the research
The RMIT research included:
- secondary research – internet searches, focusing on influencers within academic and grey literature
- qualitative research – interviewing expert industry practitioners and stakeholders.
Key research insights
Influencers were categorised into property and non-property advisers:
- Non-property related advisors are those who influence the tax decisions of property developers, such as
- tax advisors
- accountants.
- Property related advisors are those who generally don’t influence tax decisions, such as
- architects
- town planners
- real estate agents
- conveyancers.
RMIT did not find that real estate agents and conveyancers have much of a role to play when it comes to tax matters.
The research considered the property related and non-property related influencers at each of the following stages of development:
- project initiation and feasibility
- construction
- sale and operation such as rental.
How the research will be used
RMIT’s observations and incidental findings will be considered by our risk and strategy officers. They may tailor treatments to address identified activities.
If the research had identified additional tax decision advisers, such as real estate agents or conveyancers, we would also engage with these key influencers. This would enable new and more effective approaches to encourage willing participation in the tax and super systems.
Download the full report
For more information, download the full report Influencers in property development (PDF, 1.19MB)This link will download a file.
The opinions expressed in this report are the author's own and don't necessarily represent the views of the ATO.
Research and findings of the 2023 influencers in property development report.