Land Tax Calculator

How Land Tax is Calculated

Land tax is an annual holding cost based on taxable land values and the owner's state or territory. Enter the assessed land value for each holding, then choose the ownership category and any confirmed exemptions. Your figures stay in browser memory.

Use the land value for the selected assessment period. The purchase price includes buildings and market conditions that the revenue valuation can exclude. A mortgage balance does not reduce the taxable land value.

Most states add the taxable holdings within one ownership assessment before applying a threshold and marginal rate. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) calculates each ordinary residential parcel separately, with a fixed charge and a valuation charge.

The starting example follows Revenue NSW's average-value example. Three land valuations of $1,050,000, $1,100,000 and $1,150,000 produce an average of $1,100,000. Enter that average as the holding's land value.

For an ordinary individual owner, $25,000 exceeds the $1,075,000 threshold. Land tax is $100 plus 1.6% of $25,000, which gives $500 annually. The monthly budget equivalent is $42 after rounding.

State and Territory Land Tax

The selector covers all Australian jurisdictions, including Melbourne, Perth and Canberra. NSW and Victoria support the 2025 and 2026 calendar assessment years. The other jurisdictions use the 2026–27 schedules.

Each value must already use the authority's required valuation basis. The tool applies the tax schedule to that assessed value. It does not turn a purchase price into a government valuation or calculate missing valuation history.

NSW's rates and thresholds retain a $1,075,000 general threshold in both supported years. Victoria's schedules use the same general and trust rates for 2025 and 2026, including the temporary land-tax increases.

Queensland's taxable-value rules compare the current value with the average of the current and two previous statutory values. New parcels can use the published averaging factor. Enter the resulting taxable value shown for the parcel.

RevenueWA's schedule starts above $300,000. Perth metropolitan holdings can also incur metropolitan region improvement tax. The tool shows that charge separately and applies its threshold only to taxable holdings in that region.

RevenueSA's 2026–27 schedule has a $936,000 general threshold and $25,000 trust threshold. Its rates charge for each $100 or part. The result separates a calculated amount below $20 because RevenueSA does not issue that assessment.

Tasmania's scale starts at $125,000. For Canberra properties, the ACT calculation includes a $1,778 annual fixed charge per taxable parcel. Unit-title complexes, mixed-use allocations and part-year ACT changes require their specific assessment.

The Northern Territory's property-tax guidance confirms there is no land tax. Transfer duty and other property costs remain separate.

Exemptions, Trusts and Foreign Owners

A confirmed full exemption removes a holding from ordinary taxable land. Select it for an eligible principal residence or another fully exempt holding. Choosing an uncertain exemption makes the estimate unavailable until you resolve that classification.

A home exemption depends on the jurisdiction's occupancy and ownership rules. A home held by a company or trust does not automatically qualify. Partial exemptions, beneficiary nominations and special relief need the revenue authority's assessed taxable values and treatment.

Run one legal ownership capacity at a time. In Queensland, assessment shares reduce each holding to the owner's interest before aggregation. Elsewhere, enter 100% of the holdings in that ownership assessment.

The joint-group option estimates one group's assessment on its full holdings. An individual's secondary assessment can include joint interests and deductions for tax already assessed to the group. Mixed groups, related-company grouping and secondary deductions require a separate revenue-office assessment.

For NSW special and discretionary trusts, the tool removes the ordinary threshold. At $600,000 of taxable land, this produces $9,600 of trust tax before any foreign surcharge. Other trusts use general aggregate rates only when that treatment has been confirmed.

Victorian trusts generally have a lower threshold and their own surcharge schedule. The tool separates the difference from ordinary tax as the trust adjustment. A nominated-beneficiary or excluded-trust arrangement can need a different assessment from the standard aggregated trust calculation.

In Queensland's company and trust rules, the standard threshold is $350,000. Special disability trusts use the individual scale. Separate trusts remain separate unless the trust-aggregation rules require them to be combined.

Foreign status follows the selected jurisdiction's legal definition. Select liable only when that status is established. NSW applies a 5% surcharge to non-exempt residential land without an ordinary threshold, while Victoria's absentee surcharge is 4% once its applicable threshold is reached.

Queensland's foreign companies and trusts and absentee individuals incur a 3% surcharge on taxable value above $350,000. Its absentee base rates also differ from company rates at higher values. An Australian citizen living overseas is not automatically a Queensland absentee.

Tasmania's foreign-investor surcharge depends on residential use and acquisition or foreign-status conditions. Where those conditions apply, the tool adds 2% to liable residential land, even below the ordinary threshold. Mark a confirmed surcharge exemption separately.

The ACT foreign ownership surcharge is 0.75% of average unimproved value for liable residential land. NSW and ACT ordinary exemptions do not automatically establish a separate surcharge exemption. WA and SA use their ordinary annual schedules without a separate foreign-owner surcharge in this tool.

Vacant Land and Additional Property Taxes

Vacant land can attract ordinary land tax even when it earns no rent. Victoria's vacant residential land tax is a separate charge. Capital gains tax concerns a later disposal and is outside the annual holding-cost total.

For a habitable Victorian home, enter the months vacant during the preceding calendar year and consecutive liable years. More than six vacant months triggers the supported calculation unless an exemption applies. The vacancy rates are 1% of capital improved value for the first liable year, 2% for the second and 3% thereafter.

Capital improved value includes the land and improvements. It is different from the site value used for ordinary Victorian land tax. For example, a $1,000,000 capital improved value produces $20,000 of vacancy tax in a second consecutive liable year.

The supported undeveloped-land calculation applies in 2026 to metropolitan Melbourne land capable of residential development that has remained undeveloped for at least five continuous years. It uses 1% of capital improved value. The prior-year and boundary conditions are explained in the SRO's vacancy rules.

Vacancy exemptions include ordinary land-tax exemptions and qualifying holiday homes. Changes of ownership, recent construction and other special cases have their own tests. Choose the construction or special-case option for a separate SRO assessment instead of a numerical estimate here.

The total excludes federal foreign-owner vacancy fees, short-stay levies and other separately assessed property charges. Those charges require their own occupancy, approval and use information.

Read the Annual Holding-Cost Result

The annual result combines base land tax with the displayed trust adjustment, foreign surcharge and supported additional charges. The monthly equivalent divides that annual amount by 12 for budgeting. It does not change an authority's payment dates or instalment arrangement.

Ordinary thresholds generally apply once to the relevant aggregated ownership. The ACT fixed charge applies to each taxable parcel. Surcharges can have a different threshold or no threshold, so a zero ordinary-tax figure can still produce a positive annual total.

Use the stamp duty calculator for the purchase transaction. Stamp duty is a purchase cost, while the land-tax result is a recurring holding cost. Council rates and loan repayments sit outside both figures.

A lender can use different expenses when assessing serviceability. Include the holding cost once in the client's property budget, alongside rates, insurance and maintenance. The final revenue assessment can differ because of valuations, legal grouping, exemption conditions or changes during an ACT quarter.