National Tax & Accountants’ Association Ltd

Editor: The ATO has issued an information sheet for practitioners to help their clients get their property valuations right.

Practitioners or their clients can apply for a market value private ruling, by either:

• asking the ATO to provide a valuation (they will be required to pay for the work of the valuer); or
• providing the ATO with a valuation and asking them to confirm it – this generally costs less, provided the valuation meets the ATO’s requirements.

There are several advantages to requesting a market value private ruling, as opposed to obtaining a private valuation, as a market value private ruling:

• gives the client greater certainty about their tax matters;
• is binding advice that the client can rely on;
• is completed by a professional valuer and the client can be involved in the selection and appointment of that valuer; and
• removes the risk of providing the ATO with a valuation that does not meet its requirements, which could lead to further costs for the client.

If the client needs to obtain a valuation for other tax matters, they can use the form (see below) for instructing their valuation consultant, which will help them provide relevant information to their selected valuer.

Ref: ATO website – Market value private rulings