Land tax compliance

Compliance objectives

Revenue NSW relies on your honesty to voluntarily self-assess and comply with your land tax obligations.

Our compliance approach aims to:

• encourage and assist you to comply by providing information and tools
• detect and deter non-compliance by taking a targeted, risk-based approach
• treat all customers in the same way, and
• minimise disruption to you and your business.

We ensure compliance by employing a range of compliance activities across the taxes and benefits we administer.

View our 2023-24 compliance results.

How we work with you

Our Customer Commitments outline what you should expect when receiving service from us.

In return we expect our customers to:

• know and fulfil their responsibilities
• be open and give timely, accurate and complete information so we can resolve things quickly
• keep records that support your situation
• tell us when things change, and
• let us know about any problems sooner rather than later so we can help.

Land tax and land tax surcharge compliance activities

We ensure compliance using the following strategies:

• Providing Land Tax Online to allow customers to view and update their land ownership details.
• Identifying and contacting liable landowners who have not registered with us.
• Identifying and auditing landowners, who receive the benefit of multiple thresholds.
• Investigating and contacting customers, where information available suggests claims for exemptions are incorrect, with a focus on principal place of residence and primary production land.
• Contacting lessees of crown land who may not be aware of their land tax liability or fail to comply with their obligations
• Using duties purchase transactions, to identify customers who hold land in trust.
• Identifying and auditing related companies who have not declared group structures while claiming the benefit of multiple thresholds and/or reduced tax rate.
• Reviewing and investigating customers who are liable for land tax surcharge, including existing customers and new property owners.
• Working closely with other agencies, to better share information.
• Providing an education library to our customers, to better inform them of their land tax obligations.
• Meeting with peak industry bodies.

Land tax investigations and audits

How we select customers for audit

We regularly conduct audits to make sure you are paying the correct land tax.

Sometimes errors occur because you do not fully understand land tax legislation. During an audit we will help you understand your current and any future land tax obligations.

The compliance program focuses on correctly applying exemptions and thresholds, and identifying land owners who have failed to register for land tax and surcharge land tax.

Our audits also help us identify customer education needs or issues that need improvements in policy and legislation.

The most common reasons why we select customers for audit include:

• Not advising that a property, for which principal place of residence exemption has been claimed, is leased.
• Incorrectly claiming a primary production land exemption where land is used as a hobby farm, or otherwise not for profit.
• Not listing ownership by a trust or incorrectly listing the type of trust.
• Not declaring companies that are foreign.
• Not declaring company group structures.
• Not advising of a change in land use.
• Not declaring all land holdings including part interests in land.
• Incorrectly declaring foreign status.

If you know or suspect a person or a business is not complying with their land tax obligations, you can make a report by completing our feedback form.

What happens if you are audited

We will send you a notice of investigation letter that:

• formally confirms that an audit has commenced, and
• includes details of the information you need to provide and how to provide it.

If you have any questions, contact your case officer. Your case officer’s contact details are on the notice of investigation letter.

What happens next

The case officer will review the information provided.

We may request more supporting information, and/or set up a meeting with you to:

• clarify information
• discuss any issues, and
• give you an opportunity to provide more information before the conclusion of the audit.

An audit may result in one of the following outcomes:

• no further action – where no errors are found, or
• issuing a notice of assessment – where errors have been identified, resulting in less or more tax payable.
• issuing a notice of assessment with a refund being due – where an overpayment has occurred.

We will then send you a decision letter outlining the outcome, formally called the finalisation outcome.

The finalisation outcome formally ends the audit.

Interest and penalties

You may be charged interest and penalties depending on the outcome of the audit and the circumstances of any tax shortfall.

For more details read interest and penalty tax.

Objections and reviews

If you disagree with our assessment there are several options available to you.

For more details read objections and reviews.

Contact us

If you have a question about our compliance activities contact us.