Commissioner of Stamp Duties (NSW) v Jones

The Commissioner of Stamp Duties (NSW) appealed to the High Court of Australia against a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales concerning the assessment of stamp duty on a deed of settlement. The dispute centred on whether certain property transferred by the settlor to the trustees of the settlement was subject to ad valorem stamp duty as a conveyance on sale, or whether it fell within a statutory exemption.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether the deed of settlement constituted a "conveyance on sale" for the purposes of the Stamp Duties Act 1920 (NSW). This required the Court to determine if the transfer of property to the trustees was made for "consideration in money or money's worth" as defined by the Act, or if it was a voluntary disposition.

The Court reasoned that the deed of settlement was not a conveyance on sale. It held that the consideration provided by the trustees, namely their undertaking to hold the property on trust for the beneficiaries according to the terms of the settlement, did not constitute "money or money's worth" in the sense required for a sale. The Court distinguished a sale, where the consideration is given in exchange for the property itself, from a settlement, where the property is transferred to be held for the benefit of others. The legal principle applied was that a settlement, even where trustees assume obligations, is fundamentally a voluntary disposition of property, not a transaction of sale.

The appeal was dismissed.