Billionaire Perich family wins again as judge cancels $27 million stamp duty bill

A billionaire dairy farming family that reaped a $33 million windfall from the so-called Leppington Triangle has had another major win after the Supreme Court scrapped $27 million in stamp duty for land it developed in Sydney’s west.

It is the second victory for the Perich family’s Leppington Pastoral Company regarding the same land, after the court ruled in 2017 that millions in land tax on the greenfield development site should be cancelled because the dominant use was still agriculture.

Tony Perich (right) and son Mark at Oran Park on Sydney’s outskirts.Credit: James Brickwood

The tax disputes relate to the Periches’ vast farmland holdings in outer western Sydney that were progressively developed into what is now the sprawling master-planned suburb of Oran Park. LPC, another Perich family entity the Greenfield Developments Company (GDC), and state developer Landcom entered a suite of deeds to enact the project.

During the land tax case, a question was raised as to whether a development agreement between LPC and GDC – the two Perich-owned companies – was effectively a declaration of trust, which should have triggered stamp duty.

The Chief Commissioner of State Revenue hit the Periches with a stamp duty bill of $27 million, comprising duty of about $15.6 million, interest of $10.6 million and $800,000 in penalty taxes.

The Periches appealed, and in 2021 the commissioner reduced the bill to about $14 million after accepting the original assessment was based on an inflated valuation of the land. But the Periches took the matter to the Supreme Court, claiming there was no declaration of trust at all, and they should therefore pay nothing.

Housing estates at Oran Park, south-west of Liverpool.Credit: Getty Images

Justice Kate Williams on Thursday ruled in the billionaire family’s favour, rejecting the chief commissioner’s case that the language in the agreement indicated a dutiable transaction had occurred. The government will almost certainly have to pay costs, too.

Sydney-based indirect tax lawyer Matthew Cridland, a partner at K&L Gates, said it was a good decision, but he would not be surprised if Revenue NSW appealed given the amount at stake.

“Years ago the way you used to get around transfer duty on a sale of land was to declare trusts,” Cridland said. “In this case it was a development agreement, it wasn’t the parties’ intention to declare a trust. Having regard to the overall intention of the parties, it’s the right outcome.”

Revenue NSW did not say whether it would appeal, only that the chief commissioner was considering the court’s decision. LPC chief executive Tim Bryan declined to comment.

The suburb of Oran Park – population 18,000 and growing – has a Perich Park named in the family’s honour. It is just south of the so-called Leppington Triangle, a 12.26-hectare parcel of land in Bringelly bought by the federal government for $33 million (including GST) in 2018.

However, 11 months later the Infrastructure Department valued the land at just $3 million. A scathing audit in 2020 found the department failed to do due diligence and the government overpaid. The auditor-general also referred the matter to the Australia Federal Police, who ultimately found no criminal conduct had occurred.

Tony Perich and his family ranked 38th on The Australian Financial Review’s 2022 rich list with a combined net worth of $2.8 billion. Their fortune was made in dairy – the Croatian immigrants began farming in 1951 with 25 cows – but more recently in property development.

Last year the company agreed to remove a large dam from one of its properties – and pay a record fine – after admitting it took water without a licence and constructed water supply works without approval.

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