Tax & government Australia
Land Tax Calculator NSW
Land tax is charged on the total unimproved value of the taxable land you hold at 31 December, not on any single property and not on what the land sold for. Enter that total to see where it falls against the thresholds.
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Unimproved value of all taxable land you hold
Estimated land tax
—Value above threshold
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Which threshold applies
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Effective rate on total
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Tax-free portion
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Working with a different rate? Edit the rates this calculator uses
These are the figures we verified on 2026-10-28. Change them to work with a historic period, or with a new rate that has been announced but which we have not published yet.
Verified for the 2026 land tax year: general threshold $1,075,000 ($100 + 1.6% above), premium threshold $6,571,000 ($88,036 + 2% above). The 2024-25 NSW Budget froze both thresholds for land tax years after 2024, so unlike most tax figures these do not index each year — but rising land values still push holdings past them.
Estimate only, not an assessment. An estimate from the published thresholds, not an assessment. Revenue NSW issues the assessment, values the land through the Valuer General, and applies exemptions, concessions, trust rules and foreign owner surcharges that this calculator does not model. Check your own figures against Revenue NSW or a registered tax agent before relying on them.
How is land tax calculated in NSW?
Revenue NSW applies a general threshold: land value below it attracts no tax, and value above it is taxed at a fixed amount plus a percentage of the excess. A second premium threshold applies a higher rate above a much larger value. Your principal place of residence is generally exempt and excluded from the total.
What counts and what does not
Your principal place of residence is generally exempt, and that exemption is the single biggest determinant of whether anyone pays land tax at all. Primary production land has its own exemption. So does land owned by certain organisations.
What remains — investment properties, holiday houses, vacant land, commercial premises — is aggregated and assessed together at 31 December each year.
The checkbox above assumes you have already left your home out of the total. If you have not, subtract its land value before entering the figure, or the estimate will be substantially too high.
Ownership structure matters more than people expect. Land held in a trust is often assessed differently and may lose the threshold entirely, which is a common and expensive surprise for anyone who bought through a discretionary trust for other reasons.
Unimproved value is not market value
This is the most common source of a wrong answer.
The Valuer General determines land value as though the land were vacant — no house, no improvements. A property worth $1.5 million might carry a land value of $900,000, and it is the $900,000 that is assessed.
That figure appears on your council rates notice and on the land tax assessment itself. It is not the purchase price, not a bank valuation, and not what an agent thinks the property would fetch.
It is also averaged. Revenue NSW generally uses the average of the current year's value and the two preceding years, which smooths a sharp rise and delays the effect of a sharp fall.
Land values can be objected to, with a time limit. Note also that the thresholds themselves are frozen — so where they once rose with the market and kept pace, rising land values now pull more owners over the line each year without any threshold changing.
How this is calculated
Two thresholds, each applying a fixed amount plus a percentage of everything above it.
if value ≤ general threshold: tax = 0if value ≤ premium threshold: tax = fixed + (value − general threshold) × general rateotherwise: tax = premium fixed + (value − premium threshold) × premium rateeffective rate = tax ÷ total land value
Land tax is assessed on aggregate holdings, not property by property. Someone with three investment properties is assessed on the combined land value of all three, which is why the threshold is reached far sooner than people expect when they think of each property separately.
It is also charged on the *unimproved* land value — the value of the land as though nothing were built on it. That figure comes from the Valuer General, not from a sale price or a bank valuation, and it is usually well below what the property as a whole is worth.
A worked example: two investment properties
Combined unimproved land value of $1,800,000, with the principal residence already excluded.
- Total taxable land value$1,800,000
- Less the general threshold−$1,075,000
- Value above the threshold$725,000
- Fixed amount$100
- Plus 1.6% of the excess$11,600
- Estimated land tax$11,700
About $11,700 a year, an effective rate of roughly 0.65% on the total land value.
Every figure in that example comes from the editable rate panel and must be verified against Revenue NSW before it is relied on. The structure is right; the amounts are the part that moves.
Surcharges this does not include
Foreign owners of residential land in New South Wales pay a surcharge on top of ordinary land tax, and the surcharge applies from the first dollar of land value — there is no threshold. That is a materially different calculation and is not modelled here.
There are also concessions and exemptions that reduce the figure in specific circumstances, along with rules for land held jointly, which is assessed at both the joint and individual level with a credit to prevent double counting.
If your situation involves a trust, a company, foreign ownership or joint holdings, treat the number above as a rough scale check and get proper advice on the actual liability.
What this calculator does not do
- Thresholds and rates must be verified against Revenue NSW before use
- Excludes the foreign owner surcharge, which has no threshold
- Does not model trusts, companies or joint ownership
- Assumes the principal residence has already been excluded from the total
- Uses the value you enter — the assessed value is set by the Valuer General
Common questions
How is land tax calculated in NSW?
A fixed amount plus a percentage of the land value above the general threshold, with a higher rate applying above a second premium threshold. Land below the general threshold attracts no tax.
Is my home included in land tax?
Generally no — your principal place of residence is exempt and should be left out of the total taxable land value entirely.
Is land tax based on what my property is worth?
No, on the unimproved land value — the value of the land as though nothing were built on it. That figure comes from the Valuer General and is usually well below the property's market value.
Is land tax charged per property?
No, on your aggregate holdings. All taxable land is combined and assessed together, which is why the threshold arrives sooner than expected once you own more than one property.
When is land tax assessed?
On the land you hold at midnight on 31 December, with the assessment issued for the following year.
Where these numbers come from
- Revenue NSW — land tax Thresholds and rates verified for the 2026 land tax year; both thresholds are frozen rather than indexed
- NSW Valuer General — land values How unimproved land value is determined and how to object
Rates last verified 2026-10-28 Every figure Revenue NSW sets is re-checked against the source at least once a year, and again whenever a change is announced. Out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.
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