Exemptions from land tax

Authored by Catherine Hallgath, Partner, Mills Oakley Lawyers, Jack Stuk, Partner, Mills Oakley Lawyers, Andrew Johnston, Partner, Mills Oakley Lawyers; Geoff Mann, Partner, Ashurst and John Gaal, TaxCounsel; Leon Loganathan, Partner, Ward Keller (NT); Stephanie Lynch, Partner, Meyer Vandenberg Lawyers and Christine Murray, Partner, Meyer Vandenberg Lawyers (ACT); Tim Tierney, Principal Tierney Law (TAS). Updated by the LexisNexis Legal Writer team.

General

The land tax legislation in each state and territory provides exemptions from the requirement to pay land tax. The nature of the exemptions varies in each state and territory. This section reviews in broad terms some of the most common grounds for exemption from or a reduction of (by way of concession or otherwise) the payment of land tax. There may be additional grounds contained in the relevant state and territory legislation.

Applications are generally required for exemptions (other than for the permanent place of residence exemption). Further information on exemptions can be found on the revenue authorities’ websites for the relevant states and territories.

Where exemptions are specified in the legislation

There are a number of exemptions from land tax specified in the relevant legislation. For New South Wales, a number of them are specified in s 10 of the Land Tax Management Act 1956 (NSW). For Victoria and Queensland, see Pt 4 of the Land Tax Act 2005 (Vic) and Pt 6 of the Land Tax Act 2010 (Qld) respectively. For the Australian Capital Territory, a number of exemptions are specified in ss 10–13A of the Land Tax Act 2004 (ACT) as well as some exemptions/remissions by the minister under ss 34–35 of the Land Tax Act 2004 (ACT).