Coronavirus land tax relief

The Victorian Government has announced land tax relief for eligible owners of land, including landlords who have provided rent relief to tenants impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as part of the Government's Support to Landlords and Tenants package.

Check your eligibility

If your property is tenanted

• You must provide your tenant with rent relief consistent with the principles of the Government’s Support to Landlords and Tenants package.
• Your tenant's ability to pay their normal rent must be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
• If the tenant is commercial (includes retail, office and industrial),  it must meet the conditions in one of the following two categories:
  1. For a tenant conducting a general business it must be eligible for the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme:
     • A small or medium enterprise (annual aggregated turnover up to $50 million).
     • Eligible for, and participating in, the Australian Government's JobKeeper Payment.
  2. For a tenant operating a licensed pub, club or restaurant that is not eligible under the first category:
     • Your tenant must be operating under a general, full club or on-premises liquor licence as a commercial tenant.
     • Your tenant’s turnover at the premises has reduced by at least 30% since March 2020.
     • At the premises level, your tenant’s turnover was no greater than $50 million in the 2018-19 or 2019-20 financial year.
• If the tenant is residential, the agreement must be a tenancy agreement, a specialist disability accommodation agreement or a site agreement.
• Your land tax relief is limited to the amount of rent you waive (and don't require the tenant to pay at a later date), unless the tenant is a commercial tenant where land tax is an outgoing that is the contractual responsibility of the tenant, or the rent relief is the outcome of an approved mediation process.

If your property is not tenanted

• The property must have been tenanted under an eligible residential or commercial lease in March 2020, or was the subject of an executed lease agreement in March 2020, which the tenant did not fulfil.
• The property must have subsequently been vacant for a continuous period of three months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

If you carry on a business from your property

• You must actively conduct a business from your property.
• Your business must meet the conditions in one of the following two categories:
  1. For a general business:
     • Your business must be a small or medium enterprise (annual aggregated turnover up to $50 million).
     • Your business must be eligible for, and participating in, the Australian Government's JobKeeper Payment.
  2. For a business operating a licensed pub, club or restaurant (and not eligible under the first category):
     • Your business must be operating under a general, full club or on-premises liquor licence.
     • Your business’s turnover at the premises must have reduced by at least 30% since March 2020.
     • At the premises level, your business’s turnover was no greater than $50 million in the 2018-19 or 2019-20 financial year.

Apply via My Land Tax

Eligible landlords can apply for the land tax reduction through My Land Tax, an online application for managing your land tax:

• If you are already registered for My Land Tax, log in and apply now.
• If you are not registered for My Land Tax, register now.

Once you are logged in to My Land Tax:

1. Select 'COVID-19 land tax relief for eligible land owners' on the dashboard.
2. For the property you want to claim land tax relief, select 'Manage property' and from the drop down box, select 'I want to apply for COVID-19 land tax relief'.
3. Answer all questions in relation to your application and upload documentary evidence for your claim as required.
4. If you have more than one property for which you want to claim coronavirus land tax relief, you need to follow steps 2-3 for each property. Note: You need to lodge separate applications for each property and cannot claim for more than one property in the same application.

Information sourced from the Victorian SRO

The material and contents provided in this publication are informative in nature only. It is not intended to be advice and you should not act specifically on the basis of this information alone. If expert assistance is required, professional advice should be obtained.