Is land tax higher for investors in Victoria now? Not simply because they are investors. The state’s published schedules tie the bill to the site value of the land, and to who owns it. But some investors do land in the dearer scales, and the gap is large at the top end.
The State Revenue Office has published its current land tax schedules, covering the 2024 to 2033 tax years. Earlier years sit in a separate archive. Tax is assessed yearly on the Valuer-General’s site values for all taxable land you hold at midnight on 31 December before the assessment year.
Four schedules, and which one you land in
There is a general scale and three variations. Which one applies depends on the holder, not the strategy.
- General scale: for most owners who are not trusts and not absentee.
- Trust surcharge scale: for land held in certain trusts.
- Absentee owner scale: the general scale plus an extra 4%.
- Absentee trust scale: the trust scale plus the same absentee add-on.
An investor holding in their own name, living in Australia, sits on the general scale. An investor using a trust, or living overseas, does not.
What the general scale actually charges
Holdings below $50,000 pay nothing. The next three bands attract flat sums of $500, $975 and then $1,350 as the base for the first percentage band. After that, marginal rates climb from 0.3% to 2.65%. The top band starts at $3 million with a $31,650 base.
Those are thresholds on total site value, not on one property. Land is assessed on the combined taxable holding, so a portfolio of modest blocks can add up faster than a single holding feels like it should.
Key numbers
- General scale: nil below $50,000, top band from $3 million with a $31,650 base
- Trust scale: starts at a $25,000 threshold, rates from 0.375% to 2.65%
- Absentee owners: extra 4% across the lower bands
- Absentee top band: $151,650 plus 6.65% above $3 million
Where trusts pay more
The trust scale starts earlier, at a $25,000 threshold, and its rates run from 0.375% to 2.65%. The lower bands cost more than the general scale’s equivalent. By $3 million the trust scale converges with the general scale, so the extra bite is a mid-sized-holding problem, not a top-end one.
That matters for the many investors who hold through family or discretionary trusts for asset protection or estate planning reasons. The structure may do its job and still cost more each year in land tax. It is one of the less visible costs next to the ones covered in our negative gearing, CGT and investor tax guide.
The absentee add-on is the big one
Absentee owners pay an extra 4% across the lower bands. At the top, the figure becomes $151,650 plus 6.65% above $3 million. Compare that with the general scale’s $31,650 base and 2.65% rate at the same threshold. The difference is the 4% surcharge applied to the land value up to $3 million, plus the higher marginal rate above it.
Absentee trusts follow the same pattern and reach the identical top band. A trust owned by an absentee holder does not get a second layer of penalty at the top. It simply arrives at the same, steeper place.
What this means for a Victorian investor
So, is land tax higher for investors now? For a resident investor holding in their own name, the general scale applies, and nothing in these schedules singles out investors as such. For trusts and absentee owners, yes, the scales are heavier, and the absentee version is far heavier.
The practical points:
- Check who the owner is on title. The scale follows the registered holder, not your intentions.
- Add up site values, not purchase prices. The Valuer-General’s numbers drive the bill.
- Mind the 31 December date. What you hold at midnight that day sets the assessment for the following year.
- Use the official calculators. The revenue office offers one for ordinary owners and one for trusts, and they beat back-of-envelope maths.
This is only the land tax slice. Landholders also face other holding and exit costs, such as the capital gains tax valuation deadline that could cost investors thousands, and the cashflow effect of each is easy to underestimate when you add them one at a time.
What could trip people up
The schedules are public, but the outcomes depend on details these tables do not show: how land is aggregated, whether any exemption applies, and how a trust is classified. Any of those can move a bill a long way. Anyone with a trust, an overseas element, or several holdings should confirm treatment with the revenue office or an adviser before assuming the general scale applies.
One next step: pull up your latest land tax assessment, find which scale it used, and run the same site values through the official calculator to see what a different structure would have cost.
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General info, not financial advice.
