Australia: Qld land tax liability to consider interstate property

Land tax laws have recently been changed so that the value of any interstate land owned by an entity is now considered when determining Queensland land tax liability.

Queensland Parliament has recently passed the Revenue Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 which includes changes to how land tax will be calculated in Queensland from 30 June 2023.

From that date, interstate land is included to determine :

• whether the land tax-free threshold has been exceeded; and
• the total taxable value of your landholding, which is used to calculate the rate of land tax that will be applied to the Queensland proportion of your landholdings.

 Once the rate of land tax has been calculated, you will only pay land tax on the land that you own in Queensland.

If you do not own land in other states or territories, this change will not affect you.

If you do own land in another state or territory, you will need to declare your interstate landholding by setting up an online account with the Queensland Revenue Office and completing a declaration (within 30 days of receiving your assessment or by 31 October) which includes:

• details of the land;
• the land value based on the statutory value in that state or territory; and
• your percentage of ownership of the land.

Most (but not all) of the land tax exemptions applicable to Queensland land will also apply to interstate land (for example, principal place of residence, primary production land etc).

The most obvious effect of this change is that many people who owned both Queensland and interstate property, but were previously below the land tax threshold, may now find themselves above the threshold and liable to pay land tax on the Queensland property they hold.

For those who have never considered Queensland land tax as something of concern, perhaps you hold only one property in Queensland but have substantial holdings in other states, suddenly being charged land tax may come as a surprise.