Land tax on business premises, state by state

Stamp duty is the tax you notice when you buy premises. Land tax is the one that keeps arriving. Every state except the Northern Territory charges it each year on land you hold above a threshold, and business premises almost never qualify for the exemptions that protect the family home. How much you pay depends on the state, the land value and, often overlooked, who owns the property.

What are the land tax thresholds in each state?

State or territory	When land tax starts	Notes
Tasmania	$125,000 of general land value	Scale applying from 1 July 2025
Queensland	$600,000 (individuals); $350,000 (companies and trustees)	Based on land held at 30 June
South Australia	$936,000 (2026–27); $833,000 (2025–26)	Land held in trusts: $25,000
New South Wales	$1,075,000 land value	Fixed for the 2025 and 2026 land tax years; premium threshold $6,571,000
Victoria	Above the SRO threshold	Use the SRO calculator for your holdings
Western Australia	Above the RevenueWA threshold	Assessed on total unimproved value of land held by the same owners
ACT	Check with the ACT Revenue Office	Leasehold land; ongoing costs mainly through general rates
Northern Territory	No land tax	Council rates still apply

Thresholds apply to the total taxable land you hold in that state, not to each property separately. Two modest commercial units can together exceed a threshold that neither would reach on its own.

Why does ownership structure matter so much?

Several states tax companies and trusts sooner than individuals:

• Queensland taxes companies and trustees from $350,000 of land value, against $600,000 for individuals.
• South Australia taxes land held in trusts from just $25,000, against $936,000 for general ownership in 2026–27.

Many owners hold business premises in a company or family trust for good reasons: asset protection, succession, or tax on rental income. But in these states the same building can go from no land tax to a yearly bill simply because of the name on the title. The decision needs weighing before you sign the contract, with your accountant, because changing ownership later can trigger duty and other costs.

How is land tax calculated?

Land tax is based on the land value set by the state valuer — sometimes called site value or unimproved value — not the market value of the building or the price you paid. A warehouse on a large block in an industrial estate can have a higher land value than a newer building on a smaller site.

Most states:

• Add up all the taxable land an owner holds in the state on the assessment date.
• Deduct exempt land, such as a principal residence and, in many cases, land used for primary production.
• Apply the threshold and then a sliding scale of rates to the remainder.

In NSW, land tax is assessed on land held at midnight on 31 December for the following year; in Queensland, on land held at 30 June. Other states set their own dates, and their revenue office calculators are the easiest way to estimate the bill.

How should land tax affect a buy-or-rent decision?

Owning premises can be a strong long-term move: no rent reviews, building equity, and control over the space. Land tax is one of the costs to weigh against those benefits, along with council rates, insurance, maintenance and the interest on any loan. For tenants, many non-retail commercial leases pass land tax through to the tenant as an outgoing, so you may already be paying it indirectly (retail lease laws in some states limit this).

A simple comparison lists, year by year, the full cost of owning (loan repayments, land tax, rates, insurance, maintenance) against the full cost of renting (rent, outgoings, expected increases). The right answer differs by state: owning in South Australia, where there’s no duty on qualifying land, starts from a different place from owning in NSW. Our stamp duty comparison covers that side.

Where finance fits in

Secured against a home or commercial building, loans range from $20,000 to $5,000,000 and can fund a purchase, a deposit, or duty and costs. Where a business is buying premises, a good lending conversation covers the ongoing holding costs, including land tax, so repayments are set at a level the business can carry. You can check what your business could qualify for before you make an offer.

Illustrative example: a Queensland physiotherapy group plans to buy a clinic building with a land value around $450,000. Held in the owners’ personal names, and with no other taxable land, it would sit under the $600,000 individual threshold. Held in the family trust, it would exceed the $350,000 threshold for trustees. The owners and their accountant weigh that yearly cost against the trust’s other benefits before choosing.

For state-specific detail, see the South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania guides.

Thinking about owning your premises?

Buying the building you work from is a big step, and the tax side is only part of it. Tell us your state, the price range and what security you have. It takes a minute, there’s no credit check, and we don’t circulate your details among a list of lenders. A real person helps you work through the numbers. Please answer the form accurately so we can match you with the right option on the first call.

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