Land tax objections in NSW

A land tax objection is a written challenge to a NSW land tax assessment, lodged with the Chief Commissioner of State Revenue (Revenue NSW) generally within 60 days after the notice of assessment is served on you (Taxation Administration Act 1996 (NSW) (NSW TAA) s 89). If the objection fails, you can generally take the dispute to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) or the Supreme Court.

A challenge to the land value itself generally goes to the Valuer General instead, with its own deadline. We act for owners, trustees, companies and families in land tax objections and reviews, as part of our work as NSW land tax and state tax lawyers. Section references are to the NSW TAA unless we say otherwise.

How long do you have to object to a land tax assessment?

Generally 60 days after the notice of assessment is served (s 89(1)). Service can be by post, by leaving the notice at the last address Revenue NSW has for you, or electronically, such as to an email address you have given it (s 116). So the 60 days can be running before you open it.

What you want to do	Time limit	Source
Object to a land tax assessment	60 days after the notice of assessment is served	NSW TAA s 89
Object late	With permission, up to 5 years after the initial assessment notice was served	NSW TAA s 90
Object to the land value (Valuer General)	60 days after the land tax assessment, or a notice of valuation, is served	Valuation of Land Act 1916 (NSW) s 35(1)
Elect which home is the family's principal place of residence	By the end of the objection period for that year's initial assessment	Land Tax Management Act 1956 (NSW) Sch 1A cl 12(3)–(4)
Apply to NCAT or the Supreme Court	60 days after the objection decision notice is issued, not received (can be extended)	NSW TAA s 99(1)
Appeal the Valuer General's objection decision to the Land and Environment Court	60 days after the decision notice is issued (can be extended)	Valuation of Land Act s 38

A late objection must explain the delay fully in writing, and permission can be refused (s 90(2)–(3)), so treat the 60 days as the real deadline. Permission is also generally needed to object to Revenue NSW refusing to reassess an earlier year, or reassessing without increasing the tax, more than 60 days after the initial assessment notice was served (s 86(2)(c)–(d), (3)).

What can you object to?

You can object to an assessment shown in a notice of assessment, or to most other decisions of the Chief Commissioner under a taxation law (s 86(1)). Common grounds are that:

• an exemption was refused, such as the principal place of residence or primary production exemption,
• the land was assessed to the wrong person, or ownership at midnight on 31 December was wrongly recorded (Land Tax Management Act 1956 (NSW) (LTMA) s 8),
• a trust was taxed as a special trust, or
• surcharge land tax was charged because the owner or trustee was treated as a foreign person.

You can't object to a compromise assessment you agreed to, or to the decision on an earlier objection (s 86(2)(a)–(b)). For a reassessment, your grounds are limited to the extent of the reassessment (s 87(2)).

Can you object to the land value?

Not through a land tax objection, generally. Land tax is usually calculated on the average of the land values in the Register of Land Values for the current and two previous land tax years (LTMA ss 9, 9AA). The Valuer General sets those values, and challenges go through the Valuation of Land Act 1916 (NSW) (VLA).

• Grounds. These include that the value is too high or too low, or the land's area or description is wrong (VLA s 34).
• Time. Lodge with the Valuer General within the 60 days shown in the table (VLA s 35(1)). A reassessment restarts the 60 days only for a parcel whose land value, allowance or apportionment factor has changed (VLA s 35(2)). The Valuer General can permit a late objection if you explain the delay fully in writing, but can refuse (VLA s 35A).
• Appeal. If you are dissatisfied with the decision, you can appeal to the Land and Environment Court (VLA s 37(1)) within the time in the table (VLA s 38).

Because of the three-year average, one inflated value can affect three years of land tax. If the Valuer General allows your objection, overpaid land tax is refunded with interest (NSW TAA ss 104, 105, 105A). But an objection on a later year's assessment doesn't affect the validity of earlier assessments that used the same value (NSW TAA s 16A), so it usually pays to object the first time a value appears. A value that has already been objected to, even by a previous owner, can generally be objected to again only with the Valuer General's permission, given for special reasons (VLA s 35AA).

Common land tax disputes

Principal place of residence exemption disputes

Land used and occupied by the owner as their principal place of residence, and for no other purpose, is exempt (LTMA Sch 1A cl 2(1)). The exemption is commonly refused, or later withdrawn, because:

• Occupation isn't shown. Generally, you must have lived on the land, and no other land, continuously since 1 July of the previous year, unless the Chief Commissioner is otherwise satisfied (cl 2(2)).
• Part of the property is let. One other residential occupancy, such as a flat, a room, or a flat and a room, can be disregarded even if rent is received. More than that generally means the land isn't exempt, although partial relief can apply where the owner lives in one of several flats on the land (cls 3–4, 10B).
• The owner is a company or the trustee of a special trust, subject to limited exceptions (cl 11(1)).
• The family has more than one home. You, your spouse and your dependent children can have only one principal place of residence. Without an election, Revenue NSW treats the home with the highest land value as the family's (cl 12).
• The occupiers own too little. Together they must own at least 25%, unless they bought under a shared equity scheme approved by the Chief Commissioner (cl 15).
• A concession has run out. Concessions for building or renovating, moving home and absences of up to 6 years have conditions and time limits. If a condition isn't met, the exemption is lost and, for the building and moving-home concessions, the years it covered can be reassessed (cls 6–8).

Primary production land

Rural land, generally identified by its zoning, is exempt if its dominant use is primary production, such as cultivation, keeping animals or commercial fishing, for sale (LTMA s 10AA(1), (3)–(4)). Other land must also show a significant and substantial commercial purpose or character, carried on for profit on a continuous or repetitive basis (LTMA s 10AA(2)). Disputes usually turn on the dominant use and, for land that isn't rural land, whether there is a genuine business.

Trusts and special trusts

A trust whose trustee owns land is a "special trust" unless it is a fixed trust or another exception applies (LTMA s 3A), so discretionary trusts usually are. Land in a special trust doesn't get the tax-free threshold (Land Tax Act 1956 (NSW) s 3AL(2)(b), Sch 13 Pt 2) or the principal place of residence exemption (LTMA Sch 1A cl 11(1)(c)).

Unit trusts can be caught where the deed doesn't meet the fixed trust criteria: fixed, present entitlements to income and capital that no discretion can affect, and a single class of units (LTMA s 3A(3A)–(3B)). The Chief Commissioner can also classify a trust as a special trust on its own motion, including where required information about the trust hasn't been provided (LTMA s 25A(1)–(2)).

Surcharge land tax for foreign persons

Foreign persons who own NSW residential land pay surcharge land tax on top of ordinary land tax, at 5% of taxable value, with no tax-free threshold, for the 2025 and later land tax years (Land Tax Act s 5A(2)(d), (4)(h)). Disputes usually turn on:

• Who is a foreign person. The test comes from the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth), as modified for NSW (Land Tax Act s 2A; Duties Act 1997 (NSW) s 104J). Individuals who aren't Australian citizens generally are, unless they were in Australia for 200 or more days in the previous 12 months and their stay isn't time-limited. Companies and trustees can be foreign persons because of foreign ownership interests.
• Discretionary trust deeds. The trustee is treated as a foreign person unless the deed prevents any foreign beneficiary and can't be amended to allow one (Land Tax Act s 5D). A trust that already had no foreign potential beneficiaries when that rule began doesn't need the no-amendment term (LTMA Sch 2 cl 66(3)).
• The home exemption. A foreign person generally gets it only if they were a permanent resident at midnight on the previous 31 December and then live there for a continuous 200 days in the land tax year, not counting time outside Australia (Land Tax Act s 5B). Different rules apply to retirement visa holders (Land Tax Act s 5BA).

The same questions often arise on purchase: see stamp duty disputes and objections.

What evidence helps a land tax objection?

You carry the onus of proof (s 88), and Revenue NSW can suspend an objection while information it has requested is outstanding (s 92(1)). Send the evidence with the objection:

• Principal place of residence: utility, council and insurance records, electoral roll and driver licence details, and evidence of where else you were living. Records from the time usually carry more weight than later statements.
• Primary production: sales, stock and production records, financial statements, tax returns and evidence of how the land is actually used.
• Trusts: the trust deed and every variation, the unit register and beneficiary details.
• Surcharge: citizenship, visa and travel movement records, and for a trust, the deed clauses excluding foreign persons.

Do you have to pay land tax while you object?

Generally, yes. Revenue NSW can recover the tax as if no objection were pending (s 94). Interest runs daily on tax unpaid after the due date, at a market rate (the 90-day Bank Accepted Bill rate, unless the Minister sets another rate by order) plus a premium of 8% a year (ss 21–22). Unpaid land tax is also a first charge on the land, which matters if you sell or refinance (LTMA s 47(1)).

Lodging an objection doesn't move the due date. If the objection fails, you pay the tax and the interest that has built up (s 95).

If the objection succeeds, overpaid tax is refunded with interest (ss 104, 105). If paying now is difficult, Revenue NSW can extend the time to pay or accept instalments (s 47), and can remit interest (s 25). If it refuses an individual more time to pay, it must tell them in writing that they can ask the Hardship Review Board to review the refusal (s 47(3A)).

What happens if your land tax objection is disallowed?

Revenue NSW should try to decide an objection within 90 days of receiving it. Where the decision is delegated, as it usually is, the decision-maker must not be the officer who made the assessment or someone subordinate to them (s 91 and note). If the objection is disallowed in whole or in part, the notice must give reasons (s 93).

You can then apply to NCAT or the Supreme Court. If the objection is still undecided 90 days after lodgement, not counting any suspension, you can also apply after giving at least 14 days' written notice (ss 96(1), 97(1), 100(1)).

• Time. Within 60 days after the decision notice is issued, which can be before it reaches you, unless more time is allowed (s 99(1)). If the objection is still undecided after 90 days, there is no deadline for applying (s 99(2)).
• One forum. Not both for the same decision, unless the first application is withdrawn with approval (ss 96(3), 97(2)).
• Grounds and proof. Neither side is limited to the objection grounds, but you still carry the onus of proof (s 100(2)–(3)).
• Recovery. Revenue NSW can still recover the tax unless a stay is granted (s 103).

The right forum depends on the issue, the amount at stake and the cost and risk of each, so get advice before filing (see our fees).

How our land tax lawyers help

• Deadlines and forum. We confirm when your 60 days end and whether the issue belongs with Revenue NSW, the Valuer General or both.
• The objection and review. We draft the grounds and gather the evidence the exemption or trust rules call for, and act in NCAT and Supreme Court proceedings.
• Trusts. We review deeds against the special trust and surcharge rules, and flag landholder duty where a restructure is being considered.
• Accountants. We work alongside accountants and tax agents on their clients' land tax disputes.

Next step

Send us every page of the land tax notice of assessment, the date it was served or reached you, earlier notices for the same land, and any Revenue NSW letters about the exemption, trust or surcharge. Add a short note on what you think is wrong and, if the value is the issue, any notice of valuation. In a short first call we'll tell you when your 60 days end, which objection you need and what evidence to gather.