Calculating land tax
Your land tax assessment is based on the total taxable value of your land holdings as at midnight on 31 December of the preceding year. The taxable value of each property/land you own is usually the site value found on your council rate notice. Apartments have a site value and are therefore included in the total taxable value of your landholdings.
Apart from referring to these examples, you can use our land tax calculator, which estimates your land tax at general rates, including the absentee owner surcharge (if applicable).
Land tax is calculated by applying the appropriate land tax rate to the total taxable value of your land holdings, excluding exempt land such as your home.
For example, at midnight on 31 December 2023, Alice owns:
- Property A, an investment property with a taxable value of $620,000
- Property B, an investment property with a taxable value of $480,000
- Property C, her principal place of residence (PPR).
Alice’s total land tax liability for 2024 is calculated by applying the appropriate land tax rate to the total taxable value of the non-exempt land she owns as at midnight on 31 December 2023.
She is only assessed on the total taxable value of Property A and Property B, which is $1.1 million because Property C is Alice’s PPR and is therefore exempt from land tax.
The general land tax rate, including the COVID-19 debt temporary surcharge, for land holdings valued from $1 million to less than $1.8 million is $4,650 + 0.9% of any amount greater than $1 million.
Therefore, Alice must pay $5,550 in land tax, calculated as follows:
- $4,650 + (($1,100,000 – $1,000,000) × 0.9%) = $5,550.
Calculating proportional land tax
Proportional land tax is the amount of land tax applying to one particular land as a proportion of your total land tax liability. It is shown against each taxable property on the Statement of Lands page of your assessment.
Your principal place of residence and any other exempt land are not included in this calculation.
We calculate the proportional tax on land using the formula (X ÷ Y) × Z where:
- X = taxable value of a property
- Y = total value of all taxable properties
- Z = total tax payable.
In Alice’s case:
- Property C is exempt from land tax because it is her PPR so it's excluded from this calculation.
- The proportional land tax payable on each of her other 2 properties is:
- Property A - ($620,000 ÷ $1,100,000) × $5,550 = $3,128.18 (i.e. 56.4% of her land tax liability).
- Property B - ($480,000 ÷ $1,100,000) × $5,550 = $2,421.82 (i.e. 43.6% of her land tax liability).
