Apply for trustee land tax exemption

• A beneficiary of a trust is a person entitled to a beneficial interest in land or income derived from the land that is the subject of the trust, including a person who holds an interest through a series of trusts.
• A beneficiary of a discretionary trust is a person in whose favour a power of appointment has been exercised during the 12-month period ending when the liability arises (30 June of the relevant year). If no power of appointment has been exercised, the beneficiary will be the taker in default under the trust document.

Land tax

A building, or part of a building, that is all the following:

• fixed to the land
• designed or approved by local government for human habitation by a single family unit
• used as your principal place of residence.

It is used as a home if it is occupied by the owner or beneficiary as their principal place of residence.

Land tax

A person’s principal place of residence is the home in which they live. You can only have one principal place of residence as at 30 June of a relevant year.

The liability date is 30 June.

For example, if you own property on 30 June 2025 and are applying for an exemption for the 2025–26 assessment year, you would enter 30/06/25 as the liability date.

A parcel is an area of land:

• that is the subject of a separate valuation issued under the Land Valuation Act 2010

or

• with a separate lot entitlement detailed in a community titles scheme, building units plan or group titles plan.

An arrangement (e.g. renting a room or granny flat) where each of the following applies:

• the land is used as the home of a person (the principal resident)
• the principal resident has given the occupant the right to live on the land under a tenancy agreement
• the gross floor area of the residential area to which the right relates (the leased area) is not more than 50% of the total floor area of all residential areas on the land
• the occupant uses the leased area for residential purposes and has not given the right to occupy any part of the leased area to another person under a tenancy agreement
• the rent payable for the leased area is not more than the market rent for the area.

It is not an allowable letting if the leased area is in a building containing 3 or more flats and the leased area is not used for residential purposes by the principal resident.

For more information, see the public ruling on the land tax exemption for a home (LTA000.1).

An individual is a natural person.

The liability date is 30 June.

For example, if you own property on 30 June 2025 and are applying for an exemption for the 2025–26 assessment year, you would enter 30/06/25 as the liability date.

A power of appointment is a decision of the trustee (or other authorised person) of a discretionary trust to make a distribution in the trust property (e.g. payment of income, right to reside in property) to a beneficiary.

A lease or licence, or an agreement or arrangement about boarding or lodging for a person

An allowable letting is a family letting if the occupant is a member of the principal resident’s family—that is:

• the person’s spouse
• the parents of the person or the person’s spouse
• the grandparents of the person or the person’s spouse
• a brother, sister, nephew or niece of the person or the person’s spouse
• a child, stepchild or grandchild of the person
• the spouse of anyone mentioned in d or e.

If part of your land is used for a non-exempt purpose, the Commissioner may apply a partial exemption to the part of the land used as a home.

When land is used mainly for a purpose that does not meet the requirements of an exemption.

When determining whether land is being used for a substantial non-exempt purpose, we consider:

• whether a person other than the principal resident has been given a right to occupy any part of the land under a tenancy agreement
• whether a person, other than the principal resident or a member of the principal resident’s family who uses the land as his or her home, carries out work on the land as an employee or contractor, other than related to the land itself or a building situated on the land
• the extent to which a person uses the land, or has set the land aside for use, for a non-exempt purpose
• whether the gross income generated during the most recently ended financial year from business or income producing activity on the land is more than $30,000
• any other relevant matter.