Land tax calculation

How is land tax calculated?

Land tax liability is assessed quarterly for all properties and is based on the status of a property on 1 July, 1 October, 1 January and 1 April (liability dates).  Land tax is assessed for a whole quarter and there is no daily pro-rata of land tax liability within a quarter.

Residential property that has been rented but is temporarily vacant on a liability date will continue to be liable unless firstly, the vacancy continues for the whole quarter and secondly, the owner notifies the Commissioner for ACT Revenue in writing that the property has not been rented in that quarter.

Unimproved value

Quarterly land tax assessments for 2012-13 are based on the Average Unimproved Value (AUV) that includes the 2010, 2011 and 2012 unimproved land values of the property.

If the owner is dissatisfied with the newly determined unimproved land value of the property, they may only lodge an objection to the resultant rates assessment and not to the land tax assessment.  If your objection to the rates assessment is successful and the unimproved land value is redetermined, the land tax assessment will automatically be recalculated based on the new average unimproved value.

Other decisions affecting property owners

A property owner (including a unit holder) may lodge an objection to other decisions as prescribed under section 39 of the Land Tax Act 2004.  These include decisions relating to interest charges.  The prescribed fee is $64.

The liability to pay all charges as originally assessed continues notwithstanding the lodgment of an objection.  All unpaid charges will accrue interest.

For further information see Your rights.

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