Your options if your land tax assessment may be incorrect.
On this page
- Request changes to your assessment without lodging an objection
- Object to the site value on the assessment
- Object to your land tax assessment or reassessment
- Pay your assessment while waiting for a decision
Request changes to your assessment without lodging an objection
You can often resolve issues with your land tax assessment without lodging a formal objection. Common changes and updates include:
- updating your contact details
- adding or removing properties
- applying for an exemption such as for your home (your principal place of residence) or primary production land
- correcting errors or omissions.
Before lodging an objection, check whether you can correct the issue by updating your assessment. You can refer to our:
- checklist to help identify common issues
- list of updates that can be made in My Land Tax.
Visit update or correct your land tax assessment to get started.
Visit understanding your vacant residential land tax assessment for information about updates and objections.
For all other exemptions and amendments, you should write to us explaining your issue. We will review your amendment request and respond to you in writing. We may contact you for more information.
Object to the site value on the assessment
Valuation authorities, such as the Valuer-General, determine the site value used to calculate your land tax. We are not involved in this process. You must lodge an objection with us and we refer it to them for review. These objections must be lodged within 2 months of the issue date on your assessment notice using the Land Valuation Objection Portal.
To learn more visit:
Please do not continue with steps below unless you are objecting to something other the site valuation contained in the assessment.
Object to your land tax assessment or reassessment
This section sets out the process for you to formally object to, or challenge the legal basis, of your assessment or reassessment
An objection is a formal process. You must explain the basis of why you disagree with the assessment on legal grounds. Claims such as the tax being too high, financial hardship or personal circumstances are not considered valid.
Objections to the penalty tax component of the assessment or reassessment (i.e. you believe you should not have been imposed penalty tax or the rate imposed should be lower) are unlikely to be successful if your situation involves:
- not knowing you had an obligation to notify us
- an oversight or unintentional default
- relying on an adviser who failed to notify us
- already receiving a reduced penalty rate due to voluntary disclosure or cooperation with an investigation
- having a good payment history
- experiencing financial hardship.
Objections must be lodged within 60 days of the issue date on your assessment or reassessment. For reassessments, you can only object to new or increased liabilities.
Objection requirements
To formally object to or challenge the legal basis of a land tax assessment or reassessment, you need:
- details of the person who was issued the assessment or reassessment, or their authorised representative
- the assessment or reassessment number you are objecting to
- land ownership records
- the legal grounds for your objection, i.e. the reasons why you disagree with our assessment any supporting evidence you feel may help your case.
If your request is unclear, we will decide whether it should be treated as a change request or a formal objection. We will generally treat your matter as a change request if:
- the matter is a simple error or oversight
- we do not dispute your view on the matter
- you are claiming an exemption for the first time
- you have not provided reasons which state fully and in detail why your assessment is incorrect.
How to object
There are 3 ways you can lodge an objection. Please choose one method and submit all information and supporting documents together. The online objection form is the most efficient way to submit your objection.
You can object by:
- Using our online objection form.
- Emailing your objection to our objection inbox (this inbox is for objections only; for other enquiries, please contact us).
- Posting your objection to:
Tax Advisory and Review Branch
State Revenue Office
GPO Box 1641
Melbourne VIC 3001
Refer to the objection requirements section above for what you will need to submit. You will also need to include:
- your name
- your customer ID (if known)
- your contact details
- the assessment number or decision reference
- the date of your assessment, reassessment or our decision.
For objections lodged after the 60-day timeframe, you must also provide reasons for the delay. If no reasons are provided, your objection will be invalid. For guidelines on how out-of-time applications are considered, see Revenue Ruling TAA-004v5.
Pay your assessment while waiting for a decision
While waiting for our decision, you should pay your land tax assessment or reassessment on time, whether in full or by instalment. If you do not pay the assessed tax on time, interest for late payment will continue to accrue daily on the outstanding amount.
We encourage you to use My Land Tax to pay your assessment or set up a payment plan via AutoPay. Please contact us if you need help.
If you have paid all or part of your assessment and we fully or partially allow your objection, you will receive a refund of the overpaid tax with interest at the market rates.
If your objection is disallowed or only partially allowed, you have the right to refer the matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal or the Supreme Court. Read about your appeal options.
