There aren’t many cases when buying property, where you can avoid giving the state revenue office a good pound or two of flesh. One particularly useful exemption though might come up when you buy that property from your partner.
Each state has their own treatment on the matter (of course…). But, by way of example, the legislation looks a little something like this for those of you in Victoria;
43. Marriage and domestic relationships
(3) No duty is chargeable under this Chapter in respect of a transfer of dutiable property from one person to another person, or from two people to one of them, or from one person to themselves and another person if-
(a) the people are spouses or domestic partners of each other; and
(b) no other person takes or is entitled to take an interest in the property under the transfer.
Nice! So, while CGT is always going to be hard to avoid when changing ownership of an investment property, there might just be a way to get out of paying stamp duty at the same time. Gotta love that, hey?