ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR LAND TAX ASSESSMENT NOTICE?
Annual land tax assessment notices (issued by the State Revenue Office) are being issued between January and April 2019. These notices inform landowners of how much land tax is payable and based on the recent feedback of many JACX Property clients significant increases have occurred in 2019.
Land tax is assessed on a sliding scale basis on the total taxable value of a landowner’s land holdings as at midnight 31 December of the preceding year.
Strong capital growth over the previous few years has undoubtedly resulted in increases in land tax however we always recommend that landowners carefully check the basis of the assessment to ensure it is fair and reasonable. On occasion, assessed values are unfairly high resulting in an inflated land tax liability.
WHEN ARE THE ASSESSMENTS ISSUED?
Every year a land tax assessment notice is issued to landowners by mail sometime between late January and April, so you should be receiving one shortly if you haven’t already.
WHO CAN OBJECT AND WHAT IS THE COST?
Any landowner who has been issued a land tax assessment is within their rights to make an objection to the assessment if they believe the assessment is incorrect. There is no cost to lodge an initial objection with the State Revenue Office (SRO).
If you wish to dispute your assessed land tax, you must submit an objection within 60 days of receipt of your notice, so time is of the essence.
WHAT IS THE PROCESS TO OBJECT?
An objection can be made either in writing, by email or via the online application form.
An objection to the assessed value must detail in writing the grounds for the objection and include any supporting documentation (i.e. sales evidence/ valuation report if the value is in dispute). The simplest way to object is with the online objection form available on the SRO website.
HOW LONG DOES THE OBJECTION PROCESS TAKE?
Once an objection has been made within the required 60 day window, the Council is required to send a return response within 60 days. The response typically includes sales evidence used by the Council Valuer, outlining the case for the assessed or revised value, or any other supporting documents believed by the Council to be relevant. Upon receipt of this information, the landowner has a further 30 days in which to reject or accept any revised assessment provided by Council. If there is still disagreement about the assessed value at this point, negotiations are usually subsequently commenced between the landowner and the Council Valuer to resolve the dispute directly.
How long an objection takes to resolve largely depends on which Council is dealing with the objection as some Councils are busier than others. However, most objections are able to be resolved within 3 to 6 months of the objection date.
CONTACT DETAILS
M 0401 902 077
A 80 Jolimomt Street East Melbourne
L https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-bennett-850992a9/
REFERENCES
Buildings by Guilhem Vellut (CC BY 2.0)
Paying taxes by CafeCredit.com (CC BY 2.0)