Tax Alert - Queensland land tax calculations to include value of some interstate land investments.

Lowe Lippmann Chartered Accountants

Queensland land tax calculations to include value of some interstate land investments

Firstly, we must note upfront that the Queensland state government has not changed these rules to tax any land holdings in other Australian states.

Secondly, any Queenslander’s who only have land holdings in their home state will not be impacted and will continue to be able to access all available exemptions on their principal place of residence or primary production exemptions.

What are the changes?

These changes will start to apply to Queensland land tax assessments in the 2023-24 financial year.

From 1 July 2023, the methodology used to calculate Queensland land tax has been changed, which now includes the value of certain land holdings within Australia (not just within Queensland) to determine:

whether the tax-free threshold (currently $600,000 for individuals excluding absentees, and $350,000 for companies, trusts and absentees) has been exceeded; and
the rate of land tax that will be applied to the Queensland proportion of the value of your landholdings.

This change to the calculation method now includes any taxable land in Queensland and any “relevant interstate land”, which is defined to include land located in another state or territory that is valued under interstate valuation legislation (ie. the statutory value) and is not ‘excluded interstate land’ (such as a principal place of residence or primary production land).

What to do if you own Queensland and interstate land?

If you own land in Queensland and in another state or territory, you will need to make a declaration with the Queensland Revenue Office regarding your interstate land holdings by providing details, such as a land description, value and percentage of ownership.

From 30 June 2023, this declaration will need to be completed by the earlier of the following:

within 30 days of the assessment notice date and where the assessment notice is issued before 30 September 2023; or
on or before the 31 October 2023 where the assessment notice is used after 30 September 2023.

We note that land holders may have interest and penalty tax imposed on them if they fail to notify the Commissioner of their landholdings within the prescribed timeframe. Furthermore, it may be possible that ‘infringing’ land holders may also be subject to civil penalties (of up to $14,375).

We stress that these changes apply to companies, individuals and trusts and represent a substantial change in the Australian land tax regime, and we should be aware that other jurisdictions may start looking at these changes with interest.

The immediate impact for the 2023-24 financial year is likely to be an increase in Queensland land tax being felt by commercial tenants, where their landlords are permitted by law to pass-on their increased costs.

Please do not hesitate to contact your Lowe Lippmann Relationship Partner if you wish to discuss any of these matters further.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

Tax Alert - New Tax Agent Obligations from 1 July 2025

July 21, 2025

New Tax Agent Obligations from 1 July 2025 From 1 July 2025, “small” firms of tax practitioners (with 100 or less employees) must ensure they are complying with the eight new Code of Professional Conduct obligations from the Tax Practitioners Board ( TPB ). These new Code obligations were introduced by the Government under the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024. The new Code obligations have already commenced for large tax practitioners (with over 100 employees) from 1 January 2025. As tax agents, Lowe Lippmann Chartered Accountants are committed to upholding our professional and regulatory obligations, including with the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 which includes the Code of Professional Conduct as regulated by the TPB.

Audit Lowe Down – Related parties – what should I consider in identifying them?

July 16, 2025

Related parties – what should I consider in identifying them? Related party disclosures is an area that is receiving more scrutiny from stakeholders in both the for-profit and the not-for-profit space. Disclosure of transactions that have occurred with related parties are important since the terms and conditions are often different from those with unrelated parties, in some instances the transactions may have occurred for much lower or even nil consideration. Often one of the biggest challenges for compiling the disclosures is working out who is a related party of an entity. The definition of related parties in AASB 124 Related Party Disclosures is detailed, however we have summarised the definition into various elements below. a. Think about entities who might be related to the reporting entity i.e.: i. through control or significant influence, ii. by the existence of material transactions or iii. dependence on technical information or personnel provided by them. b. Think about people who might be related to the reporting entity, i.e.: i. Key management personnel, including all directors. ii. Close family members of key management personnel (e.g. spouse, child). c. Think about entities that the people identified in b. might control or significant influence, i.e.: i. Family businesses ii. Businesses which a close family member controls (i.e. senior partner in a legal or accounting firm). Once you have identified a complete list of who is potentially a related party, analysis can then be performed to confirm they meet the criteria in AASB 124 and then identify any transactions with these parties. Remember that transactions should be included whether or not a price was charged or whether the transaction was formally documented or not.

Practice Update – July 2025

July 4, 2025

Changes to car thresholds from 1 July The car limit for the 2026 income year is $69,674. This is the highest value that a taxpayer can use to calculate depreciation on a car where they use the car for work or business purposes and they first use or lease the car in the 2026 income year. If a taxpayer is buying a car and the price is more than the car limit, the highest input tax ( GST ) credit they can claim (except in certain circumstances) is one-eleventh of the car limit. For the 2026 income year, the highest input tax credit they can claim is $6,334 (i.e. one-eleventh of $69,674). The luxury car tax ( LCT ) threshold for the 2026 income year is $91,387 for fuel-efficient vehicles, and $80,567 for all other luxury vehicles. Input tax credits need to be claimed within the four-year time limit. A taxpayer cannot claim an input tax credit for luxury car tax when they buy a luxury car, even if they use it for business purposes.