VIC COVID-19 Land Tax Rebate in VIC

Hi All,

I bought property earlier this year, and got settled in April. Since then it is advertised for rent but the property is still vacant.

As part of settlement, I reimbursed the land tax on pro-rata basis to vendor who paid the land tax in full for year 2020. They had a tenant in there till the very last day, who moved out on the day of settlement. Now that I am struggling to find a new tenant, I assumed that I am eligible to get rebate of 25%. In order to do that, I need to log into MyTax (SRO website) with customer number and assessment number for year 2020. Now the land tax certificate is not issued under my name as vendor already had it and paid for it before the property was settled. When I called SRO and asked for it, they said they cannot issue the customer number and assessment number since i am not their customer yet, which can only happen next year.

I cant ask vendor or their conveyancer to apply for rebate as they dont own the property and they most likely wont see the property if they log into MyTax.

How do I proceed? What are my options?
All I need is pretty much a customer number and assessment number to apply for rebate.

 

You haven't paid land tax. You just paid an amount to the vendor to cover their land tax.

 

Even if you haven't received your land tax notice you will still be able to apply for the Covid Relief package when the invoice does arrive.There haven't been any time frame restrictions for when applications must be submitted by.

The application requirements for a vacant property are greater than for a tenanted property that's had a rent reduction. Therefore it'd be a good bet to take note of the following and save these somewhere to be accessed when the land tax bill comes through:

• The date when the property became available for rent.
• Description of how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted your ability to secure a tenant (track down how many days it took to lease the property last time it was listed and then use this as substantiation, also wider stats of vacancy rates and falling rent over the last 2/3 months)
• The advertised rental amount and date of advertisement.
• Copy of the property advertisement, for example via screenshot from online media or PDF (if applicable).
• Exclusive managing and leasing authority agreement with the real estate agent or property manager (if applicable).
• Anything else that can support your claim.