Hardship Relief for Land Tax: Increased Commissioner Discretion

Victoria’s land tax landscape has undergone significant change in recent years, with rising land tax liabilities placing increasing pressure on taxpayers. Against this backdrop, the State Taxation Further Amendment Act 2025 (which received Royal Assent on 25 November 2025) introduces a notable amendment to the administration of hardship relief. The Commissioner of State Revenue (SRO) can now determine hardship applications where the land tax assessed for the applicant taxpayer for, or in a tax year does not exceed $5,000 (up from the previous $1,000 threshold). Additionally, the Commissioner can now grant relief without first obtaining the approval of the Treasurer. Applications involving amounts above $5,000 must continue to be made to the Land Tax Hardship Relief Board (Board). The amendment applies from 26 November 2025.

Who can apply for hardship land tax relief?

Eligibility and application requirements are set out in section 91 of the Land Tax Act 2005 (Act).

An individual taxpayer, or if the taxpayer has died, their dependants may apply for relief where paying the full amount of land tax assessed will cause serious hardship.

If the land is jointly owned, relief is only available if all the owners suffer serious hardship.

Companies may also apply for relief where persons holding more than 60% of issued ordinary share capital of the company would experience serious hardship because of paying the land tax liability.

A taxpayer can only apply for relief for their outstanding land tax liability. If the liability is partially paid, only the outstanding amount is considered. According to the SRO Hardship Relief for Land Tax factsheet (Factsheet) a refund of any liability that has been paid cannot be provided through the hardship relief process.

Determining serious hardship

The Act does not define ’serious hardship’. The SRO has indicated in their Factsheet that serious hardship is different to inconvenience or mere hardship. An inconvenience may include having to reorganise finances, seeking financial advice or reducing expenditure on social activities and extravagances.

Serious hardship, on the other hand, requires the taxpayer be in such a position that paying their land tax means that they could not afford to provide the basic necessities of life for themselves and/or their dependants. Necessities include items such as food, clothing, medical supplies, accommodation and education for children.

In assessing whether relief should be granted, the Commissioner or the Board may examine the taxpayer’s discretionary spending to see if there are areas where the taxpayer could save money so that paying the tax would not actually impact their ability to provide necessities.

Other additional factors that the Commissioner or the Board may take into account in assessing a taxpayer’s financial circumstances include:

• Could the taxpayer pay the land tax by rearranging their finances, selling or drawing on non-essential assets? This is because, generally, relief is not provided if the taxpayer has access to savings, other monetary options, investments or other income.
• Has the serious hardship been caused by the taxpayer’s own act or omission, for example, through a recent gift or loan to family or friends, failure to apply for some other entitlement or excessive spending on non-essential items.
• Is the serious hardship of a short-term nature?
• Has the taxpayer clearly demonstrated that the serious hardship is of a longer-term nature?
• What has the taxpayer done to try to ease their hardship situation or pay their liability?
• Could the taxpayer use their equity in property or other assets as collateral for a loan to finance the payment of the land tax without causing any substantial reduction of that equity?
• Will the taxpayer be selling any of their assets within the next 12 months?
• If the taxpayer is a company, has the taxpayer previously been granted relief?
• Has the taxpayer entered a payment arrangement?

In addition to assessing whether a taxpayer is in serious hardship, there are other factors that may influence the Commissioner or the Board’s decision including the taxpayer’s history of compliance or non-compliance and whether granting relief would actually ease or alleviate a taxpayer’s serious hardship situation.

Application for hardship relief and timing

A taxpayer can apply for hardship relief by completing and lodging the form known as LTX-Form-06 the Application for remission or postponement of payment of land tax due to serious hardship.

The application for hardship relief must be made within one month after receiving the notice of land tax assessment (subject to the Commissioner or the Board allowing for further extension of time).

The application should include (amongst other things) the following:

• reasons for any delay in applying if the application is made outside the one-month period;
• details of the serious hardship that the taxpayer would suffer if they were required to immediately pay the full land tax amount;
• names of the people who are, or will suffer hardship if full payment of the land tax amount were to be made;
• any relevant factors that would lead the taxpayer, or in the case of a company, any one or more of its shareholders to serious hardship.

Note relief is not automatically granted. In granting relief, the Commissioner may waive the payment of the land tax either wholly, or in part, or make a reassessment of the land tax and/or impose any conditions on the grant of relief that the Commissioner considers appropriate.

Conclusion

With land tax pressure continuing to rise across Victoria and the SRO’s increased compliance focus (for the 2025-26 year the compliance areas of focus include land tax, vacant residential land tax and land transfer duty), the higher threshold for Commissioner-approved hardship relief and the expanded discretion could conceivably facilitate more timely access to relief, thus easing the financial pressure on affected taxpayers.

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