Quick Answer: On the calculator's placeholder default schedule, A$1,800,000 of taxable land value produces A$11,700.00 of annual land tax. That figure is arithmetic, not law: land tax is a state tax, there is no Commonwealth land tax, and not one threshold or rate shipped here is verified from a primary source.
Overview
Land tax in Australia is imposed by the states and territories, never by the Commonwealth. There is no federal land tax Act, so nothing about land tax appears on the Federal Register of Legislation and no figure in this calculator can be checked against a Commonwealth primary source. Every other calculator in this collection is verified line by line against legislation.gov.au. This one cannot be, and it does not pretend otherwise.
The consequence is deliberate: this calculator ships no rates. The two band thresholds, their fixed amounts, their marginal rates and any foreign owner surcharge are all user inputs. The defaults you see loaded are placeholders chosen to demonstrate the mechanism. They are not New South Wales' schedule, not Victoria's, and not any other jurisdiction's current figures. Selecting a state from the dropdown changes which revenue office is named in the results. It does not load that state's rates, because those rates are not available from any Commonwealth source the build can verify against.
Each jurisdiction imposes land tax under its own Act, administered by its own authority:
| Jurisdiction | Act | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Land Tax Act 1956 / Land Tax Management Act 1956 | Revenue NSW |
| VIC | Land Tax Act 2005 (Vic) | State Revenue Office Victoria |
| QLD | Land Tax Act 2010 (Qld) | Queensland Revenue Office |
| SA | Land Tax Act 1936 (SA) | RevenueSA |
| WA | Land Tax Assessment Act 2002 (WA) | RevenueWA |
| TAS | Land Tax Act 2000 (Tas) | State Revenue Office Tasmania |
| ACT | Land Tax Act 2004 (ACT) | ACT Revenue Office |
| NT | Levies no general land tax at all | -- |
The variation is not marginal. The Northern Territory has no general land tax whatsoever, and selecting it returns zero regardless of the land value entered. Thresholds elsewhere differ by more than an order of magnitude.
What every land-taxing jurisdiction does share is the machinery, and that is what the engine implements: aggregate the taxable land value of all your holdings in the jurisdiction at a single annual date, remove the exempt principal place of residence, apply a tax-free threshold, then charge a fixed amount plus a marginal rate on the excess, with an optional foreign owner surcharge charged on land value on top.
One point people get wrong constantly: land tax is assessed on the unimproved or site value of the land, not the market value of the property standing on it. A house worth A$2,000,000 on land valued at A$1,100,000 is assessed on A$1,100,000. Your revenue office issues that valuation.
How This Is Calculated
Using the loaded defaults: total land value A$1,800,000, no exempt residence, band 1 threshold A$1,075,000 with a A$100 fixed amount and a 1.6% marginal rate.
- Step 1 -- Remove the exempt principal place of residence from the aggregate. max(0, A$1,800,000 - A$0) = A$1,800,000
- Step 2 -- Find the applicable band. The engine selects the highest band whose threshold the value exceeds. A$1,800,000 exceeds A$1,075,000 but not the band 2 threshold of A$6,571,000. applicable threshold = A$1,075,000
- Step 3 -- Compute the excess over that band's threshold. A$1,800,000 - A$1,075,000 = A$725,000
- Step 4 -- Apply the band's marginal rate to the excess. A$725,000 x 1.6% = A$11,600.00
- Step 5 -- Add the band's fixed amount. A$11,600.00 + A$100 = A$11,700.00
- Step 6 -- Add the foreign owner surcharge, charged on land value. A$1,800,000 x 0% = A$0.00
- Step 7 -- Total the annual land tax. A$11,700.00 + A$0.00 = A$11,700.00
- Step 8 -- Express as an effective rate on taxable land value. A$11,700.00 / A$1,800,000 = 0.65%
A value exactly at the tax-free threshold pays nothing: the engine selects a band only where the value strictly exceeds its threshold.
Worked Example
Take the same A$1,800,000 aggregate, but A$900,000 of it is the land under your home.
Step 1 removes it: A$1,800,000 - A$900,000 = A$900,000 of taxable land value. That is below the A$1,075,000 threshold, so no band applies and the tax is A$0.00. The exemption did not reduce a bill; it removed the liability entirely.
Now a foreign owner holding the full A$1,800,000 in a jurisdiction with a 2% surcharge. Base tax is still A$11,700.00. The surcharge is A$1,800,000 x 2% = A$36,000.00, giving A$47,700.00. Note the surcharge is more than three times the base tax, because it is levied on the whole land value rather than on the excess over a threshold.
And a A$8,000,000 portfolio on the default premium band: excess A$8,000,000 - A$6,571,000 = A$1,429,000, taxed at 2% = A$28,580.00, plus the A$88,036 fixed amount = A$116,616.00.
That last figure demonstrates the calculator's own continuity check. A well-formed state schedule is continuous: band 2's fixed amount should equal band 1's fixed amount plus band 1's rate applied across the gap between the thresholds. Here A$100 + (A$6,571,000 - A$1,075,000) x 1.6% = A$100 + A$87,936 = A$88,036, which matches. If the figures you enter from your revenue office do not reconcile that way, you have transcribed one of them wrongly.
What This Does Not Account For
- Every rate and threshold is unverified. The band 1 threshold of A$1,075,000, the A$100 fixed amount, the 1.6% rate, the A$6,571,000 band 2 threshold, the A$88,036 band 2 fixed amount and the 2.0% premium rate are placeholders. None is sourced from any jurisdiction's current schedule. You must obtain the real figures from your state revenue office and enter them.
- Only two bands are modelled. Jurisdictions with more rate steps need the two nearest bands entered manually.
- Exemptions beyond the principal place of residence: primary production land, charitable and other concessional uses, and build-to-rent or absentee-owner variations.
- Vacant residential land tax, which is a separate impost in some jurisdictions with its own base.
- The valuation itself. The calculator takes site value as given and does not model objection or averaging arrangements.
Common Pitfalls
- Entering market value instead of site value. This is the single most common error and inflates the result substantially. Use the unimproved or site valuation your revenue office issues.
- Assessing each property separately. Land tax aggregates all your taxable land in the jurisdiction. Two blocks each below the threshold are frequently taxable when added together.
- Adding the foreign surcharge to the base tax as a percentage of that tax. It is charged on land value, not on the tax.
- Assuming the Northern Territory result is a bug. The NT genuinely levies no general land tax.
- Treating the placeholder defaults as authoritative. They exist to show the mechanism, not to tell you what you owe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does this calculator not include my state's rates?
Is land tax charged on what my property is worth?
Does my home attract land tax?
How do I know if my entered schedule is right?
Does the foreign owner surcharge replace the base tax?
Sources
No Commonwealth primary source exists for land tax, and legislation.gov.au carries no land tax law because there is none federally. Verification for this collection was done against legislation.gov.au, which for this calculator returns nothing to verify. The authorities that publish the real thresholds and rates are:
- Revenue NSW -- Land Tax Act 1956 and Land Tax Management Act 1956
- State Revenue Office Victoria -- Land Tax Act 2005 (Vic)
- Queensland Revenue Office -- Land Tax Act 2010 (Qld)
- RevenueSA -- Land Tax Act 1936 (SA)
- RevenueWA -- Land Tax Assessment Act 2002 (WA)
- State Revenue Office Tasmania -- Land Tax Act 2000 (Tas)
- ACT Revenue Office -- Land Tax Act 2004 (ACT)
- Northern Territory: no general land tax is levied.