Brighter And some

Does the State Budget mean you pay more, less or no land tax?

by Kate Watt, Marketing Manager 19 June 2019

The Queensland State Budget was released earlier this month and amongst the media coverage you might have seen some scary headlines about investors getting slugged with higher land tax.

While there is some truth to those headlines, for all home owners, and most ‘mum and dad’ investors you probably won’t notice any change.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • Queensland home owners can continue to breathe easy when it comes to land tax. You are not liable to pay land tax on land you use as your home.
  • If you’re an ‘individual’ property investor – in other words, you’re not a company or trustee – you will see no change to your current land tax rates, which apply to land with a taxable value above $600,000.
  • If you’re an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident holding a permanent visa, living, travelling or working overseas for an extended period, you’ll benefit from changes that bring Queensland into line with other major Australian states. From the 2019-20 financial year you won’t be assessed as an ‘absentee’. Translation? You benefit from the higher tax-free threshold, lower rates of tax and no more absentee surcharge.
  • If you are a company or trustee with landholdings of more than $5 million, you’ll see land tax rates increase from 30 June 2019.
  • A new surcharge will apply to foreign corporations and trustees of foreign trusts.

You can read the full details here.

Want to add to your own landholdings? View our current listings for sale or talk to us about landlording.