Land Tax on $2M of Queensland Land: Individual vs Company vs Trust
Queensland does not tax your properties. It taxes you. Every parcel you own at midnight on 30 June is added together and assessed as one total. The scale applied to that total depends on what kind of owner you are.
The same land, three bills
Take $2M of total taxable land value, on the 2026-27 scales:
Resident individual: $21,000. Tax-free threshold $600,000.
Company or trustee: $29,500. Tax-free threshold $350,000.
Absentee or foreign company: $79,000. The general rate plus a 3 per cent surcharge above $350,000.
The trustee pays 40 per cent more than the individual on identical land. The absentee pays almost four times as much. In Queensland the surcharge applies to commercial and industrial land, not only residential.
The cheapest structure for land tax is rarely the right structure overall. Asset protection, estate planning and income tax usually matter more. Know the number before you choose.
Each trust gets a threshold, with one exception
Land held in a trust is assessed separately from the trustee's other land and from other trusts. Each trust gets its own $350,000 threshold.
The exception: two trusts with the same trustee and the same beneficiaries are assessed as one. For a discretionary trust, the test looks at who received distributions in the 12 months before 30 June. Your distribution pattern decides it, not the trust deed.
Buying with a partner does not add a threshold
A co-owner's share is split out and added to everything else that co-owner holds. If you already own $1.5M of land and buy a half share in a $1M property, your total becomes $2M. The new share is taxed at your top rate.
Syndicates of five or more face a further risk. The Commissioner has discretion to assess the whole parcel as one, with one threshold. If offshore investors hold 50 per cent or more, the surcharge applies to the whole parcel.
Companies are not grouped, but avoidance rules apply
Unlike New South Wales and Victoria, Queensland has no grouping rule for related companies. Separate companies get separate thresholds. Part 8 of the Land Tax Act lets the Commissioner disregard any arrangement set up mainly to cut land tax. A company with a real commercial purpose is fine. Six shelf companies holding a quarter of a warehouse each is not.
The deadline is in March, not August
Land tax runs off the Valuer-General's land value. Objections go to the Valuer-General, within 60 days of the valuation notice. Notices issue in March. Assessments arrive in August, three months after the objection window closes.
What to do now
Total your Queensland land by owner: your own name, each trust, each company.
Check whether two of your trusts share a trustee and a distribution pattern.
Work out what any joint holding adds to your personal total.
Put March 2027 in your diary for the next valuation notice.
For the full section references, the syndicate rules and the foreign surcharge changes, read the deep dive: Queensland land tax: why who owns the land changes the bill. For how land tax flows through to your leases, read recovering land tax under a commercial lease.
Want your holding costs reviewed across a portfolio? See our commercial asset management service.
General information only. Not legal, tax or financial advice. Check your position with your accountant.