2023 Changes to Land Tax – Summary

Land tax is applicable to all states in Australia, with the exception of the Northern Territory. It is a complicated area of tax law and one that has rules differing between states.

Land tax is a tax levied on the owners of land in NSW as at midnight on 31 December of each year & in QLD as at 30 June. In general, your principal place of residence or land used for primary production is exempt from land tax.

The Valuer General values all land annually and provides these values to the Revenue office for land tax purposes.

In NSW for 2023, land tax cannot be levied on land valued below $969,000 (the 2022 threshold was $822,000). However, there are exceptions, including:

1. Land held in Special Trust which has no threshold
2. Foreign owned land
3. Principal residence that is rented out.

Of interest in NSW – each Self-Managed Superfund is presently afforded a separate threshold, whereas the value of property held in a unit trust can be added to property held in your own name when assessing Land Tax.

If you own property in QLD, read more about the changes for 2023 in our article here.

Land Tax can be a challenging area to manage. HQB has extensive experience in dealing with state revenue offices. If you own land other than principal residence, give us a call to work through how Land Tax may affect you.

– Ian Hogbin

Posted 27.03.2023

This article is compiled as a helpful guide for your private information and is subject to copyright. We suggest that you do not act solely on the basis of material contained in this article because items are of general nature only and may be liable to misinterpretation in particular circumstances. We recommend that our advice be sought before acting on any of these crucial areas