Tax Tip 261: Joint Ownership of QLD Land and Land Tax

In QLD each co-owner of land is taken to own part of the loan in proportion to their interest in the land – for land tax purposes.


This means if the land of a property is valued at $500,000 and 2 people own it as tenants in common 60/40 then owner A will be assed as if they owned land worth $300,000 and owner B owned $200,000.

Joint tenant owners are considered to own property in equal shares. So if there are 4 Joint Tenant owners they will be considered to own 25% of the property each.


If there are more than 5 owners of the land the commissioner has to power to assess them as one owner if the land is used for investment or commercial purposes.


See s22 of the Duties Act (2010) QLD
LAND TAX ACT 2010 - SECT 22 Assessment of co-owners of land

 

Hi terry, does this also apply to nsw? How do we find out if ‘tenants in common’ or ‘joint tenant’. I can’t remember what option I chose for my last 2 investments both in nsw. Hope this isn’t a silly question.

 

Nope land tax laws are different in NSW. To find out if JT or TIC you will need to look at the certificate of title or the transfer document when you purchased.

 

This is a important issue for land tax and income tax. If property is acquired 60/40 then this is imposed for all tax issues (net rental income, land tax & CGT). I have seen people "change" their tax share when a spouse doesnt work or because they just want to etc. This is a major concern and is not permitted. Likely treated as evasion with risks of penalties.

It essential you know each property ownership since in NSW secondary land tax assessment occurs. In theory what is reported on the tax return should reflect the ownership share but it wont tell you if its TIC / JT. NSW OSR can tell you or registered owners can check online some very limited info. By phone they can tell you more as they access land titles data.

eg Fred & Mary are spouses with property in NSW. Fred owns a house - Unimproved land value is $500K. Mary owns 3 units with unimproved land value of $350K. They also own two other properties 50/50 TIC with land value of $250,000 each. They now seek to buy a new property and want to know how much of their land tax threshold is available and how it may be best owned with the essential criterea being land tax. ​