𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 - 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐱

John Reilly • April 30, 2024

Structuring Your Investment Property - Land Tax

Land tax is state based tax and every state has their own rules.  I’m located in NSW, so my comments will be based on the NSW rules.


If you buy a property with your spouse (or any other person or entity), one of the ownership structures in NSW is called Joint Tenants.  This ownership structure treats you as one owner, regardless of how many joint tenants there are, for land tax.  You will only get one land tax threshold exemption.


A workaround for this is to purchase the property as Tenants in Common.  This ownership structure gives you a legal entitlement to a certain percentage of the property.  For NSW land tax, the property now has multiple owners and therefore every owner gets their own land tax threshold exemption.


If you buy a property in NSW with a discretionary trust, you do not get a land tax exemption threshold.  Currently (2024 $1,075,000).


Note: Land Tax is on the land value, not on the property value.  Units and townhouses, etc, do not have a lot of land.


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