“Now for any contract on or after 1 January 2025 you need to make sure that the seller, if the fund is a seller, goes through the motions of getting a clearing certificate from the ATO. This requires an application made to the ATO that needs to be given to the buyer by settlement day.”

Mansell said although she is confident most legal professionals will be aware of the change, any advisers dealing with clients who may be in this situation need to ensure they follow the new requirements.

“The hiccup could be if, for example, a fund is selling something, the buyer would be obliged to withhold tax, and the rate has increased from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent. That means if the fund sells a property for $1 million and the trustee is expecting to get $1 million that won't happen,” she said.

“What will happen will be the buyer will withhold $150,000 that will go to the ATO. The fund will get $850,000 and will be able to get the $150,000 back after it has lodged its annual return for the year of sale.”

However, Mansell warned there will be a time delay in the process.

“So if you're banking on making sure you've got that $1 million worth of proceeds, just be careful with this,” she said.

“It is worth double checking all the procedures to ensure you do it right.”

She continued that there is another change to the rules if a fund is dealing with off market transfers of property, which could be a lump sum benefit payment in the form of a transfer of a property, or the contribution of property.

“You need to make sure that you have got those clearance certificates in place. This is where I think the threshold dropping off might be a little bit problematic, and people might not realise that [the new regulation] also applies to them,” she said.

“They may believe that because they’re doing an in-specie transfer they don’t need to get that certificate, but they do.”