Land tax, CGT and duty scenarios
The rates, scales, thresholds and legal tests behind the /tax-scenarios checker's three composed rules engines (duty, land tax and CGT). Every figure is drawn from this graph of claims, each traced to a specific, actually-fetched government or regulator source. This page is generated directly from that graph, not maintained separately from it. See the full knowledge base for other subjects.
How this works
Delora fetches primary sources — government departments, regulators and authoritative registers — archives them with a content hash, and extracts specific, citable claims from them. Guide pages and tools read from these claims rather than having figures typed directly into prose, so every figure a reader sees links back to where it came from and when it was last verified. A monitor re-fetches each source and flags genuine content changes for review — nothing is republished automatically.
Source catalogue (15 sources)
Every source in this subject, grouped by issuing authority.
Australian Government Treasury
Australian Taxation Office
Parliament of Victoria
State Revenue Office Victoria
Active claims (25)
Every claim in this subject currently powering a guide, with its confidence and last verification date.
Where the 'home first used to produce income rule' applies (cost base and deemed acquisition date reset to the first-income-use date and market value), the 50% CGT discount is only available if the deemed ownership period -- from that reset date to the sale contract date -- is at least 12 months. Selling within 12 months of the reset date makes the discount unavailable, even if the dwelling was owned for far longer in total.
A foreign resident at the time a CGT event happens to their residential property cannot claim the main residence exemption -- full (s118-110) or partial (s118-185) -- unless they meet the life events test: a continuous period of 6 years or less as a foreign resident, during which the taxpayer, their spouse or their child under 18 had a terminal medical condition, the spouse or an under-18 child died, or the CGT event happened because of a formal agreement following a marriage or relationship breakdown. This also removes access to the home-first-used-to-produce-income rule. Property acquired before 7:30pm (Canberra time) 9 May 2017 AND disposed of by 30 June 2020 does not need to satisfy the life events test at all.
If a taxpayer's home was fully main-residence-exempt up to the point it was first used to produce assessable income (after 20 August 1996), the 'home first used to produce income rule' applies: for CGT purposes the taxpayer is treated as having acquired the dwelling on the date it was first used to produce income, at its market value on that date. This resets the cost base used to calculate the capital gain.
A taxpayer cannot treat more than one property as their main residence for the same period (subject to a separate up-to-6-month overlap rule when moving house, not modelled in this slice). Choosing to nominate a new property as the main residence ends the period for which the 6-year rule can be claimed on the former home, even if that is before the former home is sold.
Where a dwelling is only partially exempt because it was used to produce income for part of the relevant period, the assessable portion of the capital gain is: capital gain (proceeds minus cost base) multiplied by (number of non-main-residence days divided by the total number of days in the relevant ownership/deemed-ownership period). Day counts use contract dates (purchase and sale), not settlement dates.
If part of a home was used to produce income BEFORE the taxpayer stopped living in it (e.g. a home business run from part of the house while still living there), the main residence exemption never applies to that portion -- neither before nor after the taxpayer moves out, regardless of any subsequent 6-year-rule election on the rest of the period. That percentage of any eventual capital gain is permanently assessable.
If a former home is used to produce income after the owner stops living in it (e.g. rented out), the owner can choose to continue treating it as their main residence -- fully CGT-exempt -- for up to 6 years after they stop living in it (the '6-year rule'). If it is not used to produce income at all, the exemption can continue indefinitely, on the same condition that no other property is treated as the main residence at the same time.
If the owner is absent more than once (i.e. genuinely moves back in and later moves out again), the 6-year limit applies separately to each period of absence. Within a single continuous absence, the 6-year limit applies to the cumulative number of days the home was used to produce income, not to the total length of the absence -- periods the home was left vacant (not rented) do not count against the 6-year limit.
Individuals, trusts and partnerships who hold a CGT asset (including an investment property) for at least 12 months before selling can currently reduce their taxable capital gain by 50% -- the CGT discount, introduced in 1999. This discount applies in full to any gain that accrues before 1 July 2027, and continues to apply indefinitely (as one of two choices, alongside indexation and the minimum tax) for investors who buy an eligible new build.
From 1 July 2027, the 50% CGT discount is replaced -- for capital gains accruing after that date, on assets other than eligible new builds -- with CPI cost-base indexation (calculated similarly to the regime that applied 1985-1999) plus a 30% minimum tax rate on the real (inflation-adjusted) capital gain. This applies to individuals, trusts and partnerships, and broadly to all CGT assets held 12+ months (property and shares alike), not just property. It does not apply to widely held trusts (e.g. most managed investment trusts) or superannuation funds, including SMSFs. The 30% minimum tax is a floor: if an investor's marginal rate applied to the real gain already produces 30% or more, it has no extra effect. Recipients of means-tested income support (e.g. the Age Pension, JobSeeker) are exempt from the minimum tax if they receive a payment in the year the gain is realised. Legislated via the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026.
Victorian general land-transfer duty scale, contracts on/after 1 July 2021: $0-$25,000 = 1.4% of value; >$25,000-$130,000 = $350 + 2.4% of the excess over $25,000; >$130,000-$960,000 = $2,870 + 6% of the excess over $130,000; >$960,000-$2,000,000 = 5.5% of the dutiable value; above $2,000,000 = $110,000 + 6.5% of the excess over $2,000,000.
Victorian general land tax, 2022-23 land tax years: under $300,000 nil; $300,000 to <$600,000 = $375 plus 0.2% over $300,000; $600,000 to <$1,000,000 = $975 plus 0.5% over $600,000; $1,000,000 to <$1,800,000 = $2,975 plus 0.8% over $1,000,000; $1,800,000 to <$3,000,000 = $9,375 plus 1.55% over $1,800,000; $3,000,000 and over = $27,975 plus 2.55% over $3,000,000.
Victorian general land tax, for the 2024 to 2033 land tax years (Land Tax Act 2005 Sch 1 cl 1.6, Table 1.6): under $50,000 nil; $50,000 to <$100,000 = $500; $100,000 to <$300,000 = $975; $300,000 to <$600,000 = $1,350 plus 0.3% of the amount over $300,000; $600,000 to <$1,000,000 = $2,250 plus 0.6% over $600,000; $1,000,000 to <$1,800,000 = $4,650 plus 0.9% over $1,000,000; $1,800,000 to <$3,000,000 = $11,850 plus 1.65% over $1,800,000; $3,000,000 and over = $31,650 plus 2.65% over $3,000,000.
From the 2021 land tax year, an owner (or vested beneficiary) who is temporarily absent from land that was their principal place of residence keeps the land tax PPR exemption if: the land was PPR-exempt or occupied as their PPR for at least 6 consecutive months immediately before the absence; the absence is genuinely temporary and they intend to resume occupation; no other land is exempt as their PPR during the absence; the absence is not due to construction or renovation; no income is earned from the property in the year preceding the tax year; and the absence has lasted no more than 6 years. Before the 2021 land tax year, the rental test was different: the owner or trustee must not have rented out the land for 6 months or more in the year before the assessment year, with a transitional rule for the 2021 tax year itself allowing up to 6 months' rental in 2020. This pre-2021 test is not encoded (Land Tax Act 2005 (Vic) s56).
Victorian land tax is calculated using the SITE VALUES (as determined by the Valuer-General Victoria) of all taxable land owned as at midnight on 31 December of the year preceding the year of assessment. Vacant residential land tax, by contrast, is assessed on the land's CAPITAL IMPROVED VALUE.
Victorian land tax trust surcharge scale, for the 2024 to 2033 land tax years (Land Tax Act 2005 Sch 1 cl 3.6): under $25,000 nil; $25,000 to <$50,000 = $82 plus 0.375% over $25,000; $50,000 to <$100,000 = $676 plus 0.375% over $50,000; $100,000 to <$250,000 = $1,338 plus 0.375% over $100,000; $250,000 to <$600,000 = $1,901 plus 0.675% over $250,000; $600,000 to <$1,000,000 = $4,263 plus 0.975% over $600,000; $1,000,000 to <$1,800,000 = $8,163 plus 1.275% over $1,000,000; $1,800,000 to <$3,000,000 = $18,363 plus 1.1072% over $1,800,000; $3,000,000 and over = $31,650 plus 2.65% over $3,000,000.
For an eligible off-the-plan or refurbished-lot purchase (contract signed on or after 21 October 2024 and before 21 April 2027), the dutiable value is the contract price minus construction/refurbishment costs incurred after the contract was signed. Applies to the first sale after the plan of subdivision is registered only, not later sub-sales.
For contracts entered into from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2021, or from 1 July 2023, the off-the-plan duty concession applied to purchasers buying the property as their principal place of residence (including first home buyers), reducing the dutiable value by construction or refurbishment costs incurred after the contract was signed. The resulting reduced dutiable value is then what every other threshold is tested against -- the first home buyer exemption/concession and the principal place of residence concession all read the REDUCED dutiable value, while First Home Owner Grant eligibility is tested against the CONTRACT PRICE, not the reduced dutiable value.
Victorian land-transfer duty for a principal place of residence (PPR), contracts on/after 6 May 2008: $0-$25,000 = 1.4% of value; >$25,000-$130,000 = $350 + 2.4% of the excess over $25,000; >$130,000-$440,000 = $2,870 + 5% of the excess over $130,000; >$440,000-$550,000 = $18,370 + 6% of the excess over $440,000. Above $550,000, the PPR concessional rate does not apply -- the general scale applies instead.
Before 2025, vacant residential land tax was 1% of capital improved value for all liable properties, regardless of how many consecutive years the land had been liable.
From 2025, vacant residential land tax is progressive by the number of consecutive years the land has been liable: one year = 1% of capital improved value; two years = 2%; three or more years = 3%. There is no threshold and no COVID levy.
Eligible first-home buyers pay no Victorian land-transfer duty on a home with a dutiable value up to $600,000.
To keep the Victorian first-home buyer duty exemption or concession, at least one purchaser must occupy the home as their principal place of residence for 12 continuous months, starting within 12 months of settlement.
The Victorian First Home Owner Grant is $10,000 for eligible first-home buyers purchasing or building a new (newly constructed or never previously occupied) home valued up to $750,000.
From the 2034 land tax year, Victorian general land tax reverts to the scale in Land Tax Act 2005 Sch 1 cl 1.5 (Table 1.5), which the Act applies 'for 2022, 2023 and 2034 and each subsequent year': under $300,000 nil; $300,000 to <$600,000 = $375 plus 0.2% over $300,000; $600,000 to <$1,000,000 = $975 plus 0.5% over $600,000; $1,000,000 to <$1,800,000 = $2,975 plus 0.8% over $1,000,000; $1,800,000 to <$3,000,000 = $9,375 plus 1.55% over $1,800,000; $3,000,000 and over = $27,975 plus 2.55% over $3,000,000. The $50,000-threshold scale (Table 1.6) applies only 2024 to 2033.
Change log
Real output from Delora's source-monitoring pipeline for this subject's sources — content changes flagged for human review, not auto-published.
About the entries below: these were flagged by an early version of Delora's monitor, which hashed raw page bytes and was fooled by cache-busting parameters and ad/tracking snippets that change on every request with no real content change. The monitor was fixed to hash cleaned page text instead, and a re-run confirmed these were false positives — shown here rather than deleted, because a change log that hides its own mistakes isn't trustworthy.
This catalogue reflects Delora's own knowledge graph as of the date shown against each source, not a live feed of the original agency's site. If a figure here looks out of date, the linked official source is always the authority — please let us know.