
over 6 years ago
The land tax trap
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The State Revenue Office issues Land Tax Notices to property owners that have a land value in excess of $250,000 and that is not their principal place of residence.
Some investors may be surprised at how high their Land Tax bills is due the valuation placed on their land. But what can you do about it if you disagree and think that the valuation and therefore Land Tax Amount is too high? Unfortunately, very little right now!
The State Revenue Office use your relevant Councils valuation to calculate the Land Tax amount payable by you. The council valuation occurs every two years. If you or your property manager passively pay your Council Rates and do not object to the valuation placed by Council valuers within the allotted time, usually 60 days of receiving the rates notice, you are stuck with that valuation and the higher Council and Land Tax rates. It’s a double hit.
So what can you do about it? When you receive your Council Rates notice have your agent provide an estimate on the land value based on similar sales, hopefully your agent is already proactively doing this. If you both think it’s too high object within the allotted time.
We recently acted for a client and disputed the valuation and were successful in reducing the land rate by 25% based on comparable sales, location of the property and data that the valuer did not put into consideration. Values can change considerably from street to street, even block to block.
Don’t get stung by higher Council and Land Tax Rates than need be, review your Council Rates to avoid the Land Tax Trap.
Please feel free to contact me about this article or any other property related matter.
Some investors may be surprised at how high their Land Tax bills is due the valuation placed on their land. But what can you do about it if you disagree and think that the valuation and therefore Land Tax Amount is too high? Unfortunately, very little right now!
The State Revenue Office use your relevant Councils valuation to calculate the Land Tax amount payable by you. The council valuation occurs every two years. If you or your property manager passively pay your Council Rates and do not object to the valuation placed by Council valuers within the allotted time, usually 60 days of receiving the rates notice, you are stuck with that valuation and the higher Council and Land Tax rates. It’s a double hit.
So what can you do about it? When you receive your Council Rates notice have your agent provide an estimate on the land value based on similar sales, hopefully your agent is already proactively doing this. If you both think it’s too high object within the allotted time.
We recently acted for a client and disputed the valuation and were successful in reducing the land rate by 25% based on comparable sales, location of the property and data that the valuer did not put into consideration. Values can change considerably from street to street, even block to block.
Don’t get stung by higher Council and Land Tax Rates than need be, review your Council Rates to avoid the Land Tax Trap.
Please feel free to contact me about this article or any other property related matter.
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