It Depends – Important dates for land tax

In this edition of It depends, senior associate Tom Walrut talks about the important dates you need to know for land tax in Queensland.

Video transcript

Hi, my name is Tom Walrut, and welcome to this week’s edition of It depends where we’ll be continuing our series on land tax. And in particular, today we’re going to be talking about the important dates for land tax here in Queensland.

What are the most important dates for land tax purposes in Queensland?

So, what are the most important dates in Queensland for land tax? As always, it depends. The two dates are the valuation date and also the liability date.

Why is the valuation date so important?

The valuation date is so important because it sets the taxable value for all land here in Queensland. The second reason it’s so important is that the valuation date usually lands somewhere in about March each year. The issue is that by the time you understand the increase in the valuation and what consequence that has in your ultimate land tax liability, that doesn’t usually happen until after June each year, and you’ve only got 60 days to object to your annual land valuation, which usually ends in March each year. So, by the time you figure out, oh, these are the consequences of my increase in the land valuation, you’re well and truly out of time to object to those valuations, meaning you’re objecting to the land tax assessment on technical grounds.

Why is the liability date important?

So, the second most important date is the liability date, that is at 30 June each year. And the reason why the liability date is so important is that it’s the facts and circumstances as at 30 June each year, which determines what the taxable value of all of your taxable land is and if you have any exemptions that you can apply. And if you are exempt from land taxes at 30 June each year, you’ve got no land tax to pay for the balance of the year. As always, we have a very friendly team here at Cooper Grace Ward, so feel free to give us a call if you’ve got any land tax queries. Thanks.