Absentee trusts
Some trust structures are absentee owners and may pay the surcharge.
If you have been impacted by the 2026 Victorian bushfires please contact us on 13 21 61 to discuss your circumstances.
- Buying property
- Costs of buying and owning a property
- Help to buy a property
- If I buy residential property, what taxes, duties and benefits are involved?
- First Home Owner Grant
- Understanding the First Home Owner Grant
- Will I be eligible for the First Home Owner Grant?
- Apply for the First Home Owner Grant
- Approved agents for the First Home Owner Grant
- Lodgement guide for the First Home Owner Grant
- Repay the First Home Owner Grant
- Objections for First Home Owner Grant
- Appeals for First Home Owner Grant
- Land transfer (stamp) duty
- Understanding land transfer (stamp) duty
- Land transfer (stamp) duty calculator
- Pay your land transfer duty assessment notice
- Dutiable value of a property
- Understanding the dutiable value of a property
- Valuation of land for duty purposes
- Fixtures and duty
- Retirement villages and dutiable value
- Water entitlements
- Concessions, exemptions and waivers
- Spouse and partner exemption
- Charities duty exemption
- Apply for a duty exemption for charities
- Exemption for a transfer to a qualifying person with a disability
- Principal place of residence duty concession
- Principal place of residence (PPR) concession
- Apply for a principal place of residence (PPR) duty concession
- First home buyers
- First home buyer duty exemption or concession
- Apply for a first home buyer duty exemption or concession
- First home owner with family exemption or concession
- Apply for a first home owner with family duty exemption or concession
- First home buyer relief after family violence
- Off-the-plan duty concession
- Understanding the off-the-plan duty concession
- Strata apartments and townhouses temporary concession
- Apply for an off-the-plan concession
- Pensioner and concession cardholder duty reduction
- Pensioner land transfer (stamp) duty calculator
- Pensioner and concession cardholder duty reduction (contracts signed on or after 1 July 2023)
- Pensioner and concession cardholder duty reduction (contracts signed before 1 July 2023)
- Approved Commonwealth concession cards
- Apply for a pensioner duty exemption or concession
- Farms
- Family farm exemption
- Young farmer duty exemption or concession
- Apply for a young farmer duty exemption or concession
- Residential property up to $1 million
- Concession or exemption for City of Melbourne residential property transactions
- Concession or exemption for property in Melbourne’s Capital City Zone
- Waiver for residential property transactions of up to $1 million
- Managing duty transactions
- Evidentiary Requirements Manual
- Complete a Digital Duties Form
- Digital Duties Form – frequently asked questions
- Guide to the Digital Duties Form
- Complete a notice of acquisition
- Completing an ELNO lodgement
- Apply for a duty refund (reassessment)
- Public lodgement steps for a duty assessment or refund
- Public lodgement frequently asked questions
- Using Duties Online
- Reset your Duties Online password
- Duties Online - frequently asked questions
- Duties Online lodgement category checklist
- Complex Duties Online transactions - frequently asked questions
- Transaction types
- Sub-sales and duty
- Changes in beneficial ownership of property without changing legal ownership
- Deceased estates and duty
- Lodgement category (transfers)
- Duty payable on late settlement and default interest
- Land use entitlements
- Economic entitlements
- Understanding economic entitlements
- Economic entitlements - frequently asked questions
- Guide to lodging economic entitlements in Duties Online
- Paying duty on the acquisition of an economic entitlement
- Companies and trusts
- Duty and trusts
- Duty and trusts - frequently asked questions
- Limited recourse borrowing arrangements (custodian trusts and holding trusts)
- Exemptions and concessions
- Regional commercial, industrial and extractive industries property concession
- Corporate reconstruction concession
- Corporate consolidation concession
- Exemption for special disability trusts
- Foreign purchasers of property
- Understanding foreign purchaser additional duty
- Foreign purchaser - frequently asked questions
- Foreign purchaser additional duty and discretionary trusts
- Foreign purchaser status checklist
- Apply for an exemption from the foreign purchaser additional duty
- Property clearance certificates
- Understanding property clearance certificates
- Apply for a property clearance certificate
- Apply for a property clearance certificate update
- Become a registered user of our clearance certificates portal
- Notes to property clearance certificates - land tax
- Notes to property clearance certificates - commercial and industrial property tax
- Notes to property clearance certificates - windfall gains tax
- Duty on leases and transfers
- Duty on the grant, transfer or surrender of a lease
- Lodge and pay duty under lease provisions
- Landholder duty
- Understanding landholder duty
- Land holdings
- Exemptions and concessions
- Examples of landholder duty calculations
- Relevant acquisition lodgement and payment obligations
- Am I liable to pay landholder duty?
- Landholder duty - decision tools
- Am I liable to pay landholder duty on an acquisition in a listed company or trust?
- Am I liable to pay landholder duty on an acquisition in a private unit trust scheme?
- Am I liable to pay landholder duty on an acquisition in a private company?
- Apply to register a trust
- Trust registrations
- Apply for registration as a declared wholesale unit trust scheme
- Apply for registration as a declared public unit trust scheme
- Apply for registration as an imminent wholesale unit trust scheme
- Apply for registration as a wholesale unit trust scheme
- New to land tax
- Site values and land tax
- Understanding your land tax assessment
- Example of land tax calculation
- Do I have to pay land tax?
- Exemptions and concessions for land tax
- Discount for build-to-rent developments
- Family or domestic violence land tax relief
- Principal place of residence
- Principal place of residence (PPR) exemption from land tax
- Apply for a principal place of residence exemption from land tax
- Changes to your principal place of residence exemption
- Exemption for construction or renovation of a principal place of residence (PPR)
- Respond to a land tax principal place of residence investigation
- Primary production land
- Primary production land exemption
- Apply for a primary production land exemption
- Greater Melbourne and urban zones
- Other exemptions
- Less common exemptions and concessions
- Charitable organisations
- Apply for a charitable land tax exemption
- Land tax exemption for rooming houses
- Paying land tax
- Pay your land tax assessment
- Hardship relief for land tax
- Land tax overpayment
- Register for BPAY View
- Managing your land tax
- Register for My Land Tax
- View or download your land tax assessment
- Update or correct your land tax assessment
- Change contact details for land tax
- Authorise a representative for land tax
- Receiving land tax assessments via myGov
- Objections and refunds
- Object to the site or capital improved valuation of your land
- Objections to land tax assessments
- Joint owners
- Joint ownership assessments
- Understanding the joint ownership deduction
- Joint owner examples (no individual deductions)
- Deceased estates
- Deceased estates and land tax
- Commencement of administration of deceased estate
- Completion of administration of deceased estate
- Absentee owner surcharge
- Understanding the absentee owner surcharge
- Do I have to pay the absentee owner surcharge?
- Notify us of your absentee owner status
- Absentee individuals
- Absentee corporations
- Apply for an exemption from the absentee owner surcharge
- Absentee owners and joint owner assessments
- Absentee owner surcharge definitions
- Absentee trusts
- About absentee trusts
- Absentee discretionary trusts
- Absentee fixed trusts
- Absentee unit trusts
- Absentee chain of trusts (sub-trusts)
- Companies and trusts
- Trust structures and land tax
- Trusts and land tax
- Land tax trust calculator
- Trustee to notify of a trust acquisition of an interest in land
- Trustee of a discretionary trust to nominate a subsequent beneficiary
- Trustee to nominate a PPR/subsequent PPR beneficiary
- Trustee notification of beneficial interests and unitholdings
- Grouping and land tax
- Vacant residential land tax
- Understanding vacant residential land tax
- Exemptions from vacant residential land tax
- Commercial residential premises
- Vacant residential land tax calculator
- Make a notification
- Understanding your vacant residential land tax assessment
- Pay your vacant residential land tax assessment
- Object to vacant residential land tax
- Short stay levy
- Understanding the short stay levy
- Register for the short stay levy
- Calculation guide with examples
- Complete a declaration that premises are not short stay accommodation
- Lodge a short stay levy return
- Pay the short stay levy
- Emergency services and volunteers fund
- Understanding the emergency services and volunteers fund
- Emergency services volunteers fund calculations and discounts
- Emergency services and volunteers fund calculator
- Windfall gains tax
- Understanding windfall gains tax
- Update or make a change to your windfall gains tax assessment
- Buying and selling land subject to windfall gains tax
- Exemptions and exclusions
- All exemptions and exclusions
- Residential land exemption
- Charitable or university land
- Transitional arrangements
- Defer or pay windfall gains tax
- Defer a windfall gains tax liability
- Elect to defer the windfall gains tax
- Pay your windfall gains tax assessment
- Thresholds and grouping
- Threshold and phase-out rate
- Payroll tax threshold calculator
- Do I have to register for payroll tax in Victoria?
- Grouping
- Payroll tax surcharges
- Victorian wages
- Contractors
- Fringe benefits
- Salary sacrifice arrangements
- Superannuation
- Shares and options
- Personal services income
- Industries and locations
- Regional employers
- Employment agencies
- Declaration for chain of on-hire for employment agency purposes
- Schools and education providers
- Managing your payroll tax
- Register for payroll tax
- Lodge your annual reconciliation
- Lodge your monthly return
- Pay your payroll tax
- Apply for a payroll tax exemption
- Apply for exclusion from grouping
- Reset your PTX Express password
- Edit your annual reconciliation
- Exempt wages and organisations
- Wages exempt from payroll tax
- Payroll tax A-Z of taxable or exempt items
- Organisations exempt from payroll tax
- Paid caregiver leave exemption
- Re-employed apprentices or trainees
- Group training organisations
- Non-profit organisations
- Contractors who normally provide services to the public
- Support for employers
- Wage underpayment disclosures
- Contacting us about insolvency
- Coronavirus payroll tax relief
- Commercial and industrial property tax
- Understanding commercial and industrial property tax
- Determining qualifying use for CIPT
- Entry into the reform
- Obligations and administrative guidance for CIPT
- Dealings in properties that have entered the reform
- Non-standard dealings in properties that have entered the reform
- Changes of use of property
- Assessments and objections for CIPT
- Growth areas infrastructure contribution
- Understanding the growth areas infrastructure contribution
- GAIC land and administration
- What type of certificate should I apply for?
- Apply for a GAIC certificate
- Lodge a GAIC acquisition statement
- Lodge a GAIC notification of a building permit application
- Exemptions, no liability and exclusions
- Exemptions from GAIC
- No GAIC liability events
- Excluded GAIC events
- GAIC and schools
- Apply for a GAIC exemption
- Apply for a certificate of no GAIC liability
- Documentation required for a No GAIC Liability Certificate application
- Defer or pay GAIC
- Deferral of your GAIC
- Elect to defer GAIC
- GAIC deferral thresholds, indexation and interest
- Work-in-kind agreements
- Staged payment arrangements
- GAIC staged payment interest calculator
- Make a staged GAIC payment
- Make a GAIC payment
- Relief in exceptional circumstances
- Metropolitan planning levy
- Understanding the metropolitan planning levy
- Metropolitan planning levy certificates
- Apply for a metropolitan planning levy certificate
- Apply for a revised metropolitan planning levy certificate
- Pay your metropolitan planning levy
- Insurance duty
- Understanding insurance duty
- Abolition of duty on business insurance premiums
- Register as an insurer in Victoria
- Update your details as an insurer
- Lodge a return as an insurer
- Lodge a return as an insured person
- Pay your insurance duty
- Issues arising from the coronavirus pandemic for life insurers
- Wagering and betting tax
- Understanding wagering and betting tax
- Calculating net wagering revenue
- Lodge a return and make a payment
- Register for the wagering and betting tax
- Pay your wagering and betting tax
- Wagering and betting tax grouping
- Object to a wagering and betting tax assessment
- Keno tax
- Understanding keno tax
- Lodge a keno tax monthly return and make a payment
- Register for keno tax
- Cancel your keno tax registration
- Livestock duty
- Understanding livestock duty
- Approved livestock agents
- Register to become an approved agent
- Livestock duty calculator
- Lodge a return as an approved agent
- Lodge statement as vendor or owner’s agent
- Pay your livestock duty
- Victorian liquor subsidy
- Understanding the Victorian liquor subsidy
- Apply for a liquor subsidy
- Victorian Liquor Subsidy Guidelines
- Water and sewerage rebate
- Understanding the water and sewerage rebate
- Apply for the water and sewerage rebate
- Motor vehicle duty
- Understanding motor vehicle duty
- Motor vehicle duty calculator
- Exemptions and concessions
- Drive-away deals 2025-26
- Licensed motor car traders
- Apply for an exemption, concession or refund from motor vehicle duty
- Lodge a change of use
- Pay motor vehicle duty
- Apply for a licensed motor car trader (LMCT) duty refund
- Motor vehicle duty objections
- Commercial passenger vehicle service levy
- Understanding the commercial passenger vehicle service levy
- Driver guide to levy payment
- Do I have to register for the commercial passenger vehicle service levy?
- Register for the commercial passenger vehicle service levy
- Lodge a return and make a payment
- Pay your commercial passenger vehicle service levy
- Amend your return and claim a refund
- Information in other languages
- Object to a commercial passenger vehicle service levy assessment
- Definitions
- Congestion levy
- Understanding the congestion levy
- Congestion levy map
- Renting out a parking space
- Register as a car park owner or operator
- Complete your congestion levy annual return
- Change your owner/operator details
- Pay your congestion levy
- Calculating the congestion levy
- Calculate your levy (private car parks)
- Calculate your levy (public car parks)
- Exemptions and concessions
- Understanding exemptions and concessions
- Claim a levy exemption
- Claim a levy concession
- Congestion levy concession for the 2021 levy year (COVID-19 restrictions)
- Unclaimed money
- Understanding unclaimed money
- Search for your unclaimed money
- Apply for your unclaimed money
- Apply for your Tatts, Intralot and TAB winnings or prizes
- Lodge unclaimed money
- Business lodgement obligations and guide
- Gaming venue lodgement obligations and guide
- Portals
- Unclaimed money register
- Absentee owner surcharge portal
- Commercial passenger vehicle service levy portal
- My Land Tax
- Land valuation objections portal
- Property clearance certificates portal
- PTX Express
- Short stay levy portal
- Vacant residential land tax portal
- Wagering and betting tax portal
- AutoPay
- AutoPay additional terms of use
- Direct Debit Payment Request Service Agreement (AutoPay Instalments)
- Our organisation
- Structure and executives
- Our purpose, goals and values
- State Taxes Consultative Council
- What we do
- About the Taxation Administration Act
- Taxes, levies and grants
- Annual reviews
- 2019-20 Victorian bushfire response
- Discretionary powers during COVID-19
- Strategies and policies
- Strategic Plan
- Customer Service Charter
- Gifts, Benefits and Hospitality Policy
- Open Data Strategy
- Procurement Framework
- Compliance Strategy
- Cyber security
- Privacy Strategy and Policy
- Victorian Homebuyer Fund
- Applying for the Victorian Homebuyer Fund
- Frequently asked questions about Homebuyer Fund
- Homebuyer Fund case studies
- Homebuyer Fund definitions
- Homebuyer Fund price caps and locations
- Your ongoing obligations
- Fire services property levy
- Fire Services Levy Secure Certificate Terms and Conditions
- Fire services property levy - frequently asked questions
- Compliance
- Detecting non-compliance and investigations
- Enforcing the law against deliberate non-compliance
- Voluntary disclosures and tip-offs
- Penalty tax and interest
- Laws, legal cases and rulings
- Legislation
- Request a private ruling
- Legal cases
- Public rulings
- Draft public rulings
- Archived public rulings
- Current rates
- Land tax
- Payroll tax
- Land transfer duty - non-principal place of residence
- Motor vehicle duty
- Emergency services and volunteers fund
- Duty reduction for first home buyers
- Land transfer duty - principal place of residence
- Congestion levy
- Insurance policies
- Growth areas infrastructure contribution
- Foreign purchaser additional duty
- Vacant residential land tax
- Wagering and betting tax
- Metropolitan planning levy
- Sale of livestock
- Commercial passenger vehicle service levy
- Casino tax
- Historical rates
- Land tax
- Payroll tax
- First Home Owner Grant
- Land transfer duty - principal place of residence (historical rates)
- Fire services property levy
- Motor vehicle duty
- Congestion levy
- Wagering and betting tax
- Rooming houses
- Growth area infrastructure contribution
- Metropolitan planning levy
- Commercial passenger vehicle service levy
- Land transfer duty - non-principal place of residence
- Premium duty rate for agreements or arrangements entered into on or after 1 July 2021
- Statistics
- Compliance statistics
- Key performance indicators
- Unclaimed money statistics
- Website statistics
- First home buyer statistics
- First home buyer duty concession by year
- Duty concession by postcode 2024-25
- Duty concession by postcode 2023-24
- Duty concession by postcode 2022-23
- Duty concession by postcode 2021-22
- Duty concession by postcode 2020-21
- First Home Owner Grant statistics
- First Home Owner Grant statistical tool
- First Home Owner Grant 2024-25
- First Home Owner Grant 2023-24
- First Home Owner Grant 2022-23
- First Home Owner Grant 2021-22
- First Home Owner Grant 2020-21
- Revenue collected
- Payroll tax revenue
- General insurance duty revenue
- Growth areas infrastructure contribution revenue
- Fire services property levy revenue
- Motor vehicle transfer duty revenue
- Congestion levy revenue
- Total revenue
- Land tax revenue
- Land tax revenue by year
- Absentee owner surcharge revenue
- Land tax by municipality 2024
- Land tax by municipality 2023
- Land tax by municipality 2022
- Land tax by municipality 2021
- Land tax by municipality 2020
- Land transfer duty revenue
- Land transfer duty revenue by year
- Foreign purchaser additional duty revenue
- Land transfer duty by postcode for 2023-24
- Land transfer duty by postcode for 2022-23
- Land transfer duty by postcode for 2021-22
- Land transfer duty by postcode for 2020-21
- Land transfer duty by postcode for 2019-20
- Connect with us
- Contact us
- Update your contact details
- Learn about state taxes and grants
- Scams and staying safe online
- Feedback
- Language, hearing and speech services
- Mental health and financial wellbeing support
- Public interest disclosures
- Tax and legal professionals
- Privacy and your rights
- Victorian Human Rights Charter
- Privacy concerns and enquiries
- Information collected via our website
- List of authorised recipients
- Artificial Intelligence transparency statement
- Terms of use for online systems
- Freedom of Information
- About Freedom of Information
- Information FOI Part II Statement
- Lodge a Freedom of Information request
- Statement 1: Organisation and Functions
- Statement 2: Categories of documents held by the SRO
- Statement 3: FOI Arrangements
- Statement 4: Publications
- Statement 5: Rules, Policies and Procedures
- Statement 6: Report Literature