Property tax
Land tax in all eight states, and what the name on your title costs you
Land tax is eight separate taxes with eight separate thresholds, and each state adds up your land its own way. A family trust, a company or a second name on the title can change the bill by five figures a year, every year you own the land.
Land tax is not one tax. It is eight of them, and they do not agree.
Every state and territory runs its own land tax, with its own threshold, its own scale, its own view of what a trust is and its own surcharge for a foreign owner. The tax-free threshold runs from $1,075,000 in New South Wales down to $50,000 in Victoria: more than twenty times apart, on the same kind of asset. Each state only adds up the land inside its own borders, so two properties in one state can cost far more than one property in each of two states, on the same total value.
Then there is the name on the title. In New South Wales a discretionary (family) trust is a special trust, so it gets no tax-free threshold at all and pays 1.6% from the first dollar. On land worth exactly the $1,075,000 threshold, that is $17,200 a year where an individual holding the same land pays nothing. In Victoria a trust is taxed from $25,000. In Queensland a trustee is taxed from $350,000, against $600,000 for an individual.
Almost nobody picks the name on the title with land tax in mind. Everybody pays for that choice every year, for as long as they own the land.
What the free land tax calculator shows you
- Every state at once. Enter your land once. Each state's threshold, scale and way of adding up your land is applied the way its revenue office applies it.
- Where the trust surcharge bites. Which of your holdings are on a trust scale, and in which states.
- Foreign owner surcharges. 5% in New South Wales, 4% in Victoria, 3% in Queensland, and the smaller ones elsewhere, added on top of the ordinary tax.
- Every legal way to own it, named. Up to eight: one name, both names, two separate names, a company, a unit trust, a super fund, a family trust, and a separate owner for each title. You see how much the cheapest one would save. The report shows which one it is.
- Over the years you hold it, not just this one. Land tax comes every year and land is revalued every year, so the number that matters is the total over the time you plan to own it.
What the full report adds
- Every way to own it, priced and ranked on total land tax over the years you hold it, with what each one involves, step by step.
- The year each threshold runs out as land values rise, and how much headroom you have left in each state.
- Where the next purchase would cost least. $1,000,000 of land priced in each of the eight, held by one person and by a family trust.
- Every portfolio, as many times as you like. One payment of $19, no expiry, and a PDF to take to your accountant. Written structuring advice from an accountant typically costs $1,500 to $5,000, so this is the cheapest way to arrive at that meeting with the numbers done.
What it will not do for you
It does not give tax or legal advice, and it does not recommend a structure. Moving land you already own into another name means transfer duty and capital gains tax, which can outweigh years of land tax, and neither is in these figures. What it does is show you whether the yearly number is big enough to be worth a conversation, and hand you the arithmetic for it. Your actual assessment is issued by the revenue office in each state, on the land you held at its assessment date. Everything here runs on the published scales for the 2026 land tax year.
What people ask before they run it
How is land tax worked out in Australia?
Each state adds up the land value of everything one owner holds inside its own borders at its assessment date, then applies its own scale to the total. Land in another state is not counted, and neither is the home you live in or land used for primary production. The thresholds are nothing alike: $1,075,000 in New South Wales, $50,000 in Victoria, $600,000 in Queensland, $936,000 in South Australia, $300,000 in Western Australia and $125,000 in Tasmania. The ACT does not add holdings together at all, and the Northern Territory has no land tax.
Why does a family trust pay more land tax?
Because in New South Wales a discretionary trust is a special trust, and a special trust gets no tax-free threshold. It pays 1.6% of the whole land value from the first dollar. On land worth exactly the general threshold of $1,075,000, that is $17,200 a year where an individual pays nothing. Victoria charges trusts on a surcharge scale that starts at $25,000, and Queensland taxes a trustee from $350,000 instead of $600,000. Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory have no trust surcharge at all.
Does putting my partner on the title reduce land tax?
Not by itself. Joint owners are taxed together on the land they share, as one taxpayer with one threshold, before either of them is taxed on anything else. What gets you a second threshold is two separate titles held in two separate sole names. That is a decision made when you buy. Adding or removing a name later is a transfer of land, with duty and a capital gains event attached.
Is land value the same as what my property is worth?
No, and using the wrong one overstates every figure. Land tax is charged on the unimproved land value: the site as if nothing had been built on it. It is printed on your council rates notice and set by the Valuer-General in each state. On an apartment it is your share of the whole block, which can be a small fraction of what the flat would sell for.
What extra land tax do foreign owners pay?
Five jurisdictions charge foreign owners a surcharge on top of the ordinary tax: 5% of residential land value in New South Wales, 4% of all land in Victoria, 3% of the value above $350,000 in Queensland, 2% of residential land in Tasmania and 0.75% in the ACT. South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory charge none. Outside Queensland the surcharge starts from the first dollar, and splitting the land between owners does not reduce it, because each owner is still foreign. Queensland also taxes a foreign person who does not live in Australia from $350,000 instead of $600,000.
When is land tax assessed in each state?
New South Wales and Victoria look at what you own at midnight on 31 December. Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania look at midnight on 30 June. Whoever is on the title at that moment is taxed for the whole of the following year, so a settlement one day either side of the date can move a full year of tax. The ACT checks at the start of every quarter and charges each quarter on its own.
Do I pay land tax on the home I live in?
No. The land under your principal place of residence is exempt in every state that charges land tax, and land used for a primary production business is exempt too. The catch is the owner: a company, a discretionary trust or a super fund generally cannot claim the home exemption. Moving out ends it from the next assessment date, and nobody sends a reminder.
Is land tax added up across different states?
No. Each state only adds up the land you own inside its own borders, and no state counts land in another state. So two properties in one state can cost far more than one property in each of two states with the same total value. That is why the state you buy the next property in can change your land tax so much.
Can I reduce land tax by splitting ownership?
Sometimes, but only with separate titles in separate names. Joint owners share one threshold, so adding a name does nothing. Two titles, each held by a different owner, give two thresholds. New South Wales groups related companies and South Australia looks through related companies and trusts, so extra entities do not always count as extra owners. Changing land you already own is a transfer, with duty and capital gains tax.
How is an SMSF taxed for land tax?
Better than a family trust in three states. A complying self-managed super fund counts as a fixed trust in New South Wales, so it keeps the $1,075,000 threshold, and it is an excluded trust in Victoria and South Australia, so general rates apply. Queensland still taxes it on the trustee scale from $350,000. A fund can never claim the home exemption.
What does the full land tax report add?
The free result gives you this year's bill, added up the way each state does it, in every state. The report prices the same land held every way open to you (up to eight), ranks them on total land tax over your holding period, shows the year each state's threshold stops protecting you as land values rise, and separates out the foreign and absentee surcharges so you can see how much of the bill they are.
Do you give tax advice?
No. This is an information service. It applies the published land tax scales to the figures you enter and shows what they produce, with every step visible. It ranks structures on one stated measure, total land tax over the period you enter, and does not recommend one. Transfer duty, capital gains tax, asset protection, borrowing and how income is shared out sit outside that measure and are not in it.
Everything on Land Tax Check
Your estimate is free, and it is a real answer.
Aggregates Australian land holdings the way each state's revenue office does, applies the published land tax scales, trust surcharge rates and foreign owner surcharges in all eight jurisdictions, and ranks every lawful ownership structure on total land tax over the holding period.
Start the Land Tax calculator
