What is Land tax?

Land tax is a tax levied on landowners by the State Government. There is a tax threshold which changes from year to year and is usually in excess of $400 000. The tax is levied on the value of your property, not taking into account any improvements on the property. The threshold for companies however, is usually only about $40,000 and therefore, when you purchase land from a company there will usually be some outstanding land tax. The reason that solicitors do a land tax search is to ensure that there is no land tax outstanding, as the land tax attaches to the property and the current owner is liable to pay the land tax even though it may have been incurred by a previous owner.