What is being taxed
The measure is site value: the land’s unimproved value, leaving out buildings and other capital improvements. The Valuer-General sets it each year. Your Land Tax Assessment shows it, and RevenueSA points to the state’s land information system, SAILIS, as another place to find it.
What matters is the total across everything held in one ownership. Several blocks that each sit under the threshold can still attract tax once they are added together. How the land is held changes the scale: individuals and companies are assessed at the general rates, while land held on trust is generally assessed at trust rates, whose threshold is $25,000 for 2026–27.
The thresholds move each year with site values as the Valuer-General assesses them. If values rise, so do the thresholds; if the average change is a fall, they stay where they were. The general threshold was $833,000 for 2025–26.
The 2026–27 general scale, and two examples
| Total taxable site value | Tax |
|---|---|
| Up to $936,000 | Nil |
| Over $936,000, up to $1,504,000 | 50 cents for each $100, or part of $100, above $936,000 |
| Over $1,504,000, up to $2,188,000 | $2,840, plus $1 for each $100, or part of $100, above $1,504,000 |
Higher tiers climb to $2.40 for each $100 above $3,504,000; RevenueSA’s rates and thresholds page sets out every tier and the trust scale.
Example one
An owner, assessed at the general rates, holds investment land with a combined site value of $1,100,000. That is $164,000 above the threshold, or 1,640 lots of $100 at 50 cents each.
Land tax: $820.00
Example two
The holding is worth $1,700,000. The tier’s base of $2,840 applies, plus $1 for each of the 1,960 lots of $100 above $1,504,000.
Land tax: $4,800.00
Examples only, computed from RevenueSA’s published 2026–27 general scale. They assume no exempt land is counted and no trust or corporate grouping applies.
Assessments go out from October, and if the calculated tax is under $20 no assessment is issued at all. Owners who find a bill hard to meet can ask RevenueSA for an extended instalment arrangement; while the agreed payments are kept up, no interest or penalty tax applies.
When your own home is exempt
An owner who lives in their home permanently may qualify for the principal place of residence exemption. RevenueSA looks for three things: it is where you actually carry on daily life, you occupy it on an ongoing basis rather than briefly or only in future, and it is a permanent building made mainly for living in. Caravans and tents do not count. The home has to be owned by a natural person; a home owned by a company does not qualify, even when a director lives there. Where the home is owned jointly, one owner living there is generally enough. That can hold when the co-owner is a company, as long as the person living there meets the other conditions and holds more than 5% of the property, and the Commissioner has not disregarded a share of up to 50% as created to reduce land tax.
Moving between homes around 30 June
The exemption usually follows the home you live in at the start of the financial year, which is why the date of the move matters.
Still in the old home on 30 June
The old home keeps its exemption for the year. The new one is not exempt that year, but its land tax may be waived if the old home sells within the year, the old home was never rented out between moving out and selling, and the new one was not rented out at any point in the year.
Already in the new home by 30 June
The new home is exempt for the year and continues to be while the criteria hold. The old home is not exempt, but may get a waiver for the year if it sells within it and was not rented out after you left.
Other cases RevenueSA covers
- Building or substantially renovating what will be your home: up to 2 financial years exempt while the work goes on, provided you then live there for at least 12 months.
- A home destroyed or made uninhabitable through no fault of yours, or by accident: up to 3 financial years exempt while it is repaired or rebuilt, if it was your home immediately before and you intend to live there again once the work is done. The exemption ends if the work is not finished within 3 years of the damage.
- Running a business from home: if less than 25% of the floor area of all buildings on the land is used for business, the exemption is full; between 25% and 75%, it is partial on a sliding scale; above 75%, there is none. Primary production is treated separately.
- Buying a home that was someone’s investment: if you paid a share of the seller’s land tax at settlement, a refund may be possible once the place becomes your home, subject to conditions, and it is capped at the lesser of what you paid and a day-based share of the single holding amount.
Exemptions are claimed with RevenueSA’s online form for land tax exemption or relief, and the ownership and assessment numbers it asks for appear on the land tax or emergency services levy notice.
Selling during the year
Ownership is fixed at midnight on 30 June, so a seller who sells after that date stays liable for the full year’s land tax. There is no legal requirement to split it, but an adjustment at settlement is common practice, usually based on the single holding amount shown on a Certificate of Land Tax Payable: the tax that would apply if this were the owner’s only land.
Next in the book: Folio 05, City of Adelaide rates