land tax calculation - joint ownership vs individual

Hi,

I am trying to calculate total land tax that I have to pay for my situation:

I and spouse jointly own 4 lands (50% each) - value 400k each. total 400*4 = 1600k

As we are joint owner there will be only one threshold used for calculating land tax.
So as per current threshold in nsw:

Assessment for joint owners(Primary) Mr A + Mrs B (all 4 properties):
Total land tax payable on 4 lands (land value $1600,000) = $17,988 ((1600k - 482k) *1.6 % +100)
A’s 50% share = $800,000

Assessment for A as secondary tax payer:

Total land value of A’s interests = $800k
Land tax payable on total land value of $800,000 before deduction = $5,188


Now let's calculate deduction (to prevent double taxation):
Calculation 1: ($800,000 divided by $1600,000) multiply by $17,988 = $8,994.
Calculation 2: ($800,000 divided by $800,000) multiply by $5188 = $5188

A's allowable deduction is $5188 (lesser of calc1 & calc2), so his total land tax payable will be: $5188 minus $5188 = $0.

Hence, in this structure A+B jointly pay $17,988 towards land tax.

Second structure:
Had we purchased lands individually, that is 2 lands each:

Then A's land tax would be ($800k - 482k ) * 1.6 % +100 = $5,188
Same calculation for B, land tax = $5,188

So, in this structure total land tax paid by A & B is 5,188*2 = $10,376

As you can see there is a massive difference of $7,612.
We have to pay $7,612 more per year just because we made a mistake by owning properties jointly.

Can someone please verify if above calculation is correct and I am not missing anything?

I understand there are several other disadvantages of joint ownership, but let consider only land tax for now.

 

What state?

 

NSW

 

Yes that looks about right. But i am only reading this on my phone (from top of doi sutep chiang mai)

 

Feeble excuse @Terry_w

 

I rode my mountain bike down a trail on the side of that I'm pretty sure

 

There were a few bike riders about. Its a steep drive up and then lots of steps to the top.

I am going to have sore legs tomorrow.

 

The 4WD up was far more terrifying than riding down

 

That's sort of correct. In the initial example secondary assessments aren't issued unless A / B own other additional property. When this occurs a credit for the 50% of the joint assessment is given. Otherwise the joint assessment is full and final and there is a single threshold of $482K given as the joint ownership is a "owner of land"

 

Hi Paul,
I'm not sure I understand your response. Given the initial example above if a and b own 4 property at 50/50, and say A buys a 5th property (again 400k to keep simple) just under A name. How does that affect the total land tax position?

 

Assessment for joint owners(Primary) Mr A + Mrs B (all 4 properties):
Total land tax payable on 4 lands (land value $1600,000) = $17,988 ((1600k - 482k) *1.6 % +100)
A’s 50% share (in 4 properties) = $800,000

Assessment for A as secondary tax payer:

Total land value of A’s interests = $800k + 400k
Land tax payable on total land value of $1200k before deduction = $11,588


Now let's calculate deduction (to prevent double taxation):
Calculation 1: ($800,000 divided by $1600,000) multiply by $17,988 = $8,994.
Calculation 2: ($800,000 divided by $1200,000) multiply by $11,588 = $7,725.33

A's allowable deduction is $7,725.33 (lesser of calc1 & calc2), so his total land tax payable will be: $11,588 minus $7725.33 = $3862.67

So, A+B jointly pay $17,988 towards land tax.
A separately pays $3862.67

Hence, A's total tax = 17988/2 + 3862.67 = $12856.67
B's total tax = 17988/2 = $8994

 

Most people aren't aware of secondary assessments. They only issue if one of the joint owners also owns other land. Each owner of land cant double dip thresholds and secondary assessments is how this operates to eliminate double counting. This is common where a unit trust is used. The above example is a good illustration of how this works.