The land tax surcharge was introduced by the Government with effect from the 2016 land tax year at the rate of 1.5% from 1 January 2017, and it is applied to all forms of property in Victoria that are subject to land tax.

The surcharge is based on the site value of the land and will be included on the annual land tax assessment issued for each taxable parcel of land.

Importantly, any person or entity that is an absentee owner must notify the State Revenue Office (SRO) of their status before 15 January in each land tax year. Penalties may apply where this does not occur.

The notification only needs to be lodged once with SRO and the surcharge will continue to apply until otherwise advised.

As an example an absentee individual is anyone who:

1. Is not an Australian citizen or permanent resident;
2. Does not ordinarily reside in Australia; and
3. Was absent from Australia:
   a.  On 31 December of the year prior to the tax year, or
   b.  For more than six months in total in the calendar year prior to the tax year.

If you need to notify the SRO that you are an absentee owner of Victorian land, then you can do so via their Notification Portal.

For more information, please click here to visit the SRO website.

If you are not sure whether a land owner qualifies as an absentee owner, would like to consider lodging an application for exemption or have any other queries regarding the land tax surcharge, please contact us for further information.