Land tax assessments for joint owners of property.
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Key information
If you own land with other people, companies or trusts, you are a joint owner. Each group of owners is treated as a unique joint ownership.
We assess land tax for:
- each unique joint ownership when the total taxable value of the land that unique joint ownership owns is equal to, or exceeds, the $50,000 threshold.
- each joint owner individually.
If you own land with different groups, and land tax applies, you may get more than one joint ownership assessment.
Our land tax calculator does not factor in joint ownership.
Jointly owned land may also attract the absentee owner surcharge or vacant residential land tax.
Assessing joint owners
Joint owners are assessed for land tax using a 2 stage process.
As a joint and individual owner of land, you may receive more than one assessment.
Stage 1: Assessing the owners together — joint ownership assessment
First, we assess each unique joint ownership that you are a member of on all the taxable land owned by that group of owners as though they were one person.
If a unique joint ownership only owns exempt land, or the total taxable value of all the jointly owned land is below the threshold, we do not issue an assessment.
The joint ownership assessment is only sent to one of the joint owners:
- Where all joint owners have nominated one joint owner to receive the assessment on their behalf, we send it to them. The nomination must be in writing.
- Where no one has been nominated, we select one of the owners to send the assessment to on behalf of all the owners.
Regardless of who receives the assessment, all members of the joint ownership are jointly liable for the assessed land tax.
Stage 2: Assessing each joint owner — individual assessment
We also assess each member of the joint ownership individually on all the taxable lands they own in any capacity, including on their share in the jointly owned land.
Depending on how you own the land, your individual share in jointly owned land is determined as follows:
- Joint owners holding land as tenants in common own a particular share in the land, so each joint owner is assessed on that share.
- Joint owners holding land as joint tenants equally share in the land, so we divide the land by the number of joint tenants to establish each individual’s share.
The joint ownership deduction
If we assess the jointly owned land under both the joint ownership assessment and your individual assessment, you may be eligible for a deduction. We use a formula to reduce your individual assessment because you pay land tax on your jointly owned land separately. Read more about the joint ownership formula.
You only receive a deduction in your individual assessment if the land you own jointly has been included in the joint ownership assessment.
Your individual assessment will list all the land you own and your deduction.
The following are situations where the joint ownership deduction does not apply. See more detailed joint owner examples with no joint ownership deduction.
Jointly owned land used as a home
Joint ownership assessments do not assess jointly owned land used by one or more of the owners as their home, also referred to as their principal place of residence (PPR).
Your PPR is exempt from land tax. You will not receive any assessments if:
- the jointly owned land is your PPR and is the only land you own.
- you own other land that is also exempt from land tax.
If you use the jointly owned land as your PPR and receive an individual assessment because you own other taxable land, your individual assessment will reflect your PPR exemption.
If another joint owner uses the property as their PPR, we do not assess the joint ownership for land tax. As a result, you will not receive a joint ownership deduction. If you do not use the property as your PPR, your share will still be included in your individual assessment.
This exemption does not apply to land owned by a discretionary or unit trust that is used by a principal place of residence beneficiary as their PPR.
Example: A jointly owned home
Individually, you own several investment properties. You also own your mother's PPR in equal shares with her. It is the only property you both own together.
We will not issue a joint ownership assessment for this property. As it is your mother's PPR, her share is exempt. However, we will include your 50% share of this property in your individual assessment. You will not receive a joint ownership deduction.
Property under the tax threshold
We do not issue a joint ownership assessment if the total taxable value of all jointly owned land is below the taxable threshold of $50,000.
You may get an individual assessment if the total taxable value of the land you own, including your interest in jointly owned land, is over the threshold.
In this case, you will not get a joint ownership deduction for the jointly owned land. This is because the joint ownership was not assessed for land tax as its value was below the tax threshold.
Example: Investment apartments
You and your partner own, in equal shares, a small investment apartment with a taxable value of $30,000. Separately, you own another investment apartment with a taxable value of $300,000. Your partner does not own other property.
The jointly owned land is below the threshold, so a joint ownership assessment will not be issued.
However, you will get an individual assessment including both properties. This is because the total value of your properties is $315,000, which is over the $50,000 threshold. You will not receive a joint ownership deduction.
Absentee joint owners
An absentee owner surcharge applies to Victorian land owned by an absentee owner. The surcharge is 4% from the 2024 land tax year.
If all the joint owners are absentee owners, the surcharge applies to the joint ownership and to each individual owner.
If only some of the joint owners are absentee owners, the surcharge will not apply to the joint ownership assessment. The surcharge will only apply to the individual absentee owner. A joint owner who is not an absentee owner will not be subject to the surcharge.
Read detailed examples of absentee joint owners.
Tell us if you are an absentee owner
If you are an absentee owner at 31 December, you must tell us before 15 January of the following year using our Absentee Owner Notification Portal.
Joint owners have 2 options:
- They can nominate one joint owner to notify us on behalf of all the joint owners using the joint ownership customer number.
- Each joint owner can notify us separately using their individual customer number.
If you don't tell us that you are an absentee owner you will be liable for penalty tax.
Notify us about absentee joint owners
You might also be interested in
- Principal place of residence exemption for land tax
- Exemption for joint owner leaving jointly owned PPR
