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Foreign buyers and land owners

It was previously identified that citizens of New Zealand, Finland, Germany, India, Japan, Norway, South Africa and Switzerland were not subject to surcharge duty or surcharge land tax due to international tax treaties.


Changes to federal legislation means that these citizens may now need to pay surcharge purchaser duty if they enter into an agreement to acquire residential property in NSW on or after 8 April 2024.


Surcharge land tax may also be payable on future land tax assessments for residential land they own in NSW.


We will be providing further information relating to the new legislation as it becomes available and encourage you to monitor the international tax treaties page for updates.

Foreign persons who buy or own residential land in NSW must pay a foreign surcharge on that property.

Find out more about who may be considered a foreign person and what is considered residential land.

A foreign person can be:

  • an individual
  • a corporation
  • a trust
  • a foreign government
  • a government investor
  • a partner in a limited partnership.

Residential land includes:

  • vacant land zoned/designated as residential
  • land on which there are one or more dwellings (includes building under construction)
  • land use entitlement
  • strata lots
  • utility lots

How the surcharge works

There are two types of surcharge applied to residential land that is bought or owned by a foreign person:

  1. Surcharge purchaser duty
  • When you buy or acquire a residential property you must pay a surcharge of 8 per cent, in addition to your transfer duty.
  1. Surcharge land tax
  • You must pay surcharge on the taxable value of all the residential land you own as at 31 December each year, in addition to any land tax you may already pay. You may need to pay the surcharge even if you don’t pay land tax.

Find out how the surcharge is applied and whether you’re eligible for exemptions and concessions that apply to transfer duty and land tax.

Amendments were made to provide for surcharge concessions to Australian-based developer that are foreign persons. Find out how the amendments affect transfer duty and land tax.