Western Australia: transfer duty and land tax on a home, with examples

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Two state taxes follow a home in Western Australia, and they arrive at very different moments. Transfer duty is charged once, on the purchase, and is worked out from the price. Land tax is charged every year, on the unimproved value of the land, and falls on owners whose land is not their own home. Inside the Perth metropolitan area a third charge, the Metropolitan Region Improvement Tax, rides on the land tax notice.

This guide sets out all three as the Western Australian Government's own pages describe them in October 2026: the duty scale band by band, how the dutiable value is found, the concessional and first home owner rates, the off-the-plan duty concession and its sliding percentages, the extra duty for foreign buyers, the land tax scale, the primary residence exemption and the way land tax is paid. Each worked example is labelled as one and is computed from the published rates. Where the pages are silent or disagree, the guide says so.

Western Australian Government pages on transfer duty assessment (updated 30 July 2026), the off-the-plan duty concession (29 July 2026) and land tax assessment (20 May 2026).

Two taxes at two different moments

The Overview of State Taxes and Royalties 2025-26, published by the state's Department of Treasury and Finance in November 2025, gives the legal footing. Transfer duty is collected under the Duties Act 2008 and is paid by the purchaser on the dutiable value of the property transferred. It replaced the stamp duty on conveyances that used to be charged under the Stamp Act 1921. Land tax is charged under the Land Tax Assessment Act 2002 and the Land Tax Act 2002, and the metropolitan levy under the Metropolitan Region Improvement Tax Act 1959. All of them are administered by the Commissioner of State Revenue.

For a household the difference is practical. A buyer who moves into the home pays duty once and, as the land tax pages explain, is generally outside land tax for as long as the property is the primary residence. A buyer who lets the property out pays the same duty on the way in and then meets land tax each year if the land is valued above the threshold.

What duty is charged on: the dutiable value

The Western Australian Government's transfer duty assessment page, last updated on 30 July 2026, starts from the dutiable value. That is generally the consideration for the transaction, which for an ordinary sale is the price. Three situations switch it to the unencumbered value of the property instead: there is no consideration, the consideration cannot be ascertained, or the unencumbered value is higher than the consideration. A sale between relatives at a price below value is therefore assessed on the value, not on the figure in the contract.

Where GST is payable on the transaction, the page says the dutiable value includes the GST.

The page also states a rule against double duty. Duty is not charged twice on transactions that relate to the same matter, and a later transfer that conforms to an initial dutiable transaction, such as a contract for the sale of land, can qualify. In an ordinary purchase the contract is the dutiable transaction and the transfer signed for settlement follows it without a second charge.

The general rate, band by band

The general rate applies, in the page's words, unless the Duties Act provides otherwise. It is a stepped scale: a base amount for the band, plus a rate for every A$100, or part of A$100, above the bottom of the band.

A worked example, assuming a home bought for A$500,000 by a buyer who claims no concession. The price sits in the fourth band. It is A$140,000 above A$360,000, which is 1,400 units of A$100. At A$4.75 each that is A$6,650, and adding the base of A$11,115 gives duty of A$17,765. The Treasury overview lists the same figure for a A$500,000 purchase.

A second worked example shows the top band. Assume a price of A$1,000,000. It is A$275,000 above A$725,000, or 2,750 units. At A$5.15 each that is A$14,162.50, and with the base of A$28,453 the duty is A$42,615.50; the Treasury overview lists A$42,615 for the same price.

The words "or part of A$100" decide what happens to an uneven price. As a third worked example, take an assumed price of A$512,350. The amount above A$360,000 is A$152,350, which is 1,523.5 units; a part unit counts as a whole one, so 1,524 units are charged. At A$4.75 that is A$7,239, and the duty is A$18,354.

Is there a separate residential rate?

The assessment page, re-read on 10 October 2026 and shown as last updated on 30 July 2026, carries no separate residential rate table beside the general one, and no table of rates for foreign buyers. It publishes three kinds of rate: the general rate, the concessional rate and the first home owner rate.

The Treasury overview does speak of a residential scale for a principal place of residence, with a minimum rate of 1.5 per cent and a maximum of 5.15 per cent, but it prints sample amounts and no band table. Those samples line up with the two published tables. At A$100,000 the overview gives A$1,500 and at A$200,000 it gives A$5,032, which are the concessional rate results. At A$300,000 it gives A$8,835 and at A$500,000 it gives A$17,765, which are the general rate results. On the pages read for this guide, then, a home valued above A$200,000 is charged the general rate, and the only residential discount outside the first home and off-the-plan rules is the concessional rate.

The concessional rate is narrow. According to the assessment page it applies to property that is a principal place of residence, or a Western Australian business asset, where the value of the entire property does not exceed A$200,000. The charge is A$1.50 per A$100 up to A$120,000, then A$1,800 plus A$4.04 per A$100 above A$120,000. As a worked example, an assumed A$180,000 unit bought as a principal place of residence would carry A$1,800 plus 600 units at A$4.04, or A$4,224, against A$4,275 at the general rate. The saving is largest at A$120,000, where the concessional duty is A$1,800 against A$2,280, and has shrunk to A$3 by A$200,000, where the two results are A$5,032 and A$5,035. The page names a concessional rate form for the claim.

The first home owner rate is the larger relief, and it is given here only in outline. For homes, from 7 May 2026, the page shows no duty up to A$600,000, a rate of A$16.15 per A$100 above A$600,000 for values up to A$800,000, and the general rate above that. For vacant land from the same date, no duty applies up to A$450,000, then A$20.14 per A$100 above A$450,000 for values up to A$550,000, and the general rate above that.

How the assessment is made

The pages read for this guide describe two routes to an assessed transaction. The off-the-plan page says eligible conveyancers and legal practitioners can self-assess in Online Duties, the revenue office's system for practitioners. A buyer can also provide forms through the Online Services Portal after logging in to RevenueWAConnect. In either case the starting document is the contract, and concession claims travel with it: the off-the-plan application form, for instance, is lodged with the contract.

The time limits for lodging a contract and paying the assessed duty belong to the Government's separate "About transfer duty" page and to the settlement timetable, and are outside the scope of this guide.

An assessment can also be reopened. The off-the-plan page says transactions can be reassessed to take account of a concession or rebate, with the duty payable or the refund adjusted to match. It gives a dated illustration of its own: after a system update on 28 July 2026, a transaction lodged and settled before the update was assessed at the old rates, and the buyer can apply for reassessment at the new rates and a refund of the difference; a transaction lodged before the update but settling after it can be reassessed before settlement.

The off-the-plan duty concession

The off-the-plan duty concession reduces the duty on a new dwelling bought before it is finished. The Western Australian Government's service page, last updated on 29 July 2026, splits contracts in two. A concessional pre-construction agreement is one signed between 23 October 2019 and 30 June 2028 where construction has not started. A concessional under-construction agreement is one signed between 31 August 2023 and 30 June 2028 where construction has started but is not finished. The date the contract is signed fixes both eligibility and the percentage.

Which dwellings qualify has widened in stages. Until 21 March 2025 only multi-tiered building schemes, meaning units and apartments, were eligible. Contracts signed from 21 March 2025 can also be for single-tiered building schemes such as townhouses and villas. Contracts signed from 12 March 2026 to 30 June 2028 can also be for survey-strata and community titles land schemes. The page defines a single-tiered scheme as one where no part of a lot's floor forms or joins the ceiling of another lot, and points to section 266E of the Duties Act 2008 for the full definitions.

The thresholds depend on the contract date. For contracts signed from 21 March 2025 to 11 March 2026 the page gives A$750,000 and A$850,000 in place of A$800,000 and A$900,000. For pre-construction contracts signed from 11 May 2023, and under-construction contracts signed from 31 August 2023, up to 20 March 2025, the figures are A$650,000 and A$750,000.

Three worked examples, each assuming a contract signed in September 2026 by a buyer who is not foreign and claims no other concession. First, a A$700,000 apartment bought before construction starts: the general rate duty is A$11,115 plus 3,400 units at A$4.75, which is A$27,265, and the concession is 100 per cent, so no duty is payable. Second, the same apartment bought while it is being built: 75 per cent of A$27,265 is A$20,448.75, leaving A$6,816.25. Third, an A$850,000 townhouse bought before construction: the duty is A$34,890.50; the price is 500 units of A$100 above A$800,000, so the concession falls by 25 percentage points to 75 per cent, which is about A$26,168 off, leaving about A$8,723. The page does not say how a fraction of a cent is rounded.

The cap bites only on expensive dwellings. At 50 per cent, the concession reaches A$50,000 when the duty reaches A$100,000, which on the general scale happens at a little over A$2.1 million. As a worked example, an assumed A$2,200,000 pre-construction purchase carries duty of A$104,415.50; half of that is A$52,207.75, so the concession is held at A$50,000 and A$54,415.50 is payable.

The page's own examples show a limit. A buyer who signed a pre-construction contract and then transferred it to a trustee company before settlement was not eligible, and the relief in section 42 of the Duties Act 2008 was not available.

One conflict between sources is worth knowing. The Treasury overview of November 2025 describes the concession as applying to contracts entered into until 30 June 2026, with thresholds of A$750,000 and A$850,000 and with survey-strata excluded. The service page updated on 29 July 2026 gives 30 June 2028, the higher thresholds of A$800,000 and A$900,000 for contracts signed from 12 March 2026, and the wider list of schemes. The later page is the one used in the table above.

The foreign rate

A foreign buyer of a home pays the ordinary duty and a second charge on top. The Treasury overview describes it as a surcharge of 7 per cent, in force since 1 January 2019, on purchases of Western Australian residential property by foreign persons, applied to the foreign person's proportion of the dutiable value. Commercial residential property is excluded, and the surcharge on land bought for a residential development of ten or more properties may be refunded. As a worked example, a foreign individual buying an assumed A$750,000 established house alone would pay general rate duty of A$29,740.50 and foreign duty of A$52,500, a total of A$82,240.50. The off-the-plan page adds that its concession applies to the ordinary duty only and that the foreign charge is handled separately; in its example of a A$700,000 townhouse the foreign duty is A$49,000. The tests for who counts as a foreign person are not covered here.

Land tax: who pays, and on what value

Land tax starts where duty ends: with ownership. The Western Australian Government's land tax assessment page, last updated on 20 May 2026, says a person must pay land tax if they own land valued above A$300,000, and that liability applies to land not used as a principal place of residence. The test is taken at one instant. Liability is based on ownership at midnight on 30 June before the assessment year, and the page is explicit that selling the land after 30 June does not remove liability for that year. Assessment notices are generally issued between September and January.

The value used is the unimproved value, which the Valuer-General determines for all land in the state. Buildings are not part of it. The taxable value is the lower of the current unimproved value and 150 per cent of the previous year's, which limits growth in the taxable value to 50 per cent in a year. As a worked example, land with an assumed unimproved value of A$400,000 last year and A$700,000 this year is taxed on A$600,000. An owner who disputes a valuation objects to the Valuer-General through Landgate.

Ownership decides how holdings are added up. Land held in the same ownership at midnight on 30 June is aggregated and taxed as one holding. The page says land owned solely is not combined with land the same person owns jointly with someone else, or with land held through a company or a trust; each ownership is assessed on its own. Trustees are liable as if the land were their own.

The land tax scale and the metropolitan levy

The scale is published on the land tax assessment page. That page does not name the assessment year its table belongs to; the Treasury overview prints the identical scale under the heading 2025-26. No page read for this guide showed a different scale for 2026-27.

The second band is a flat amount: any aggregated value from A$300,001 to A$420,000 produces a bill of A$300. Above that the scale is marginal, like the duty scale.

The Metropolitan Region Improvement Tax is charged in addition on land in the Perth metropolitan area. The assessment page gives a single rate: nothing on aggregated taxable value up to A$300,000, then 0.14 cents per dollar of the value above A$300,000. The page says it funds land for roads, open spaces and parks, and the Treasury overview says the money is paid into a fund for the Western Australian Planning Commission.

Two worked examples, each assuming one owner, land inside the metropolitan region and no exemption. An investment unit with an unimproved value of A$350,000 attracts A$300 of land tax and a levy of A$70, which is 0.14 cents on A$50,000, for A$370 in all. A rented house on land valued at A$650,000 attracts A$300 plus 0.25 cents on A$230,000, which is A$875, and a levy of A$490 on the A$350,000 above the threshold, for A$1,365.

Aggregation changes the result more than any rate does. As a worked example, two rented properties on land valued at A$280,000 and A$240,000 would each fall under the threshold alone. Held by the same owner they are taxed as A$520,000: land tax of A$550 and a levy of A$308. If one were owned solely and the other jointly with another person, the assessment page's rule is that they are not combined.

The primary residence exemption

The exemption for owner-occupiers is a test of use on one date. The Government's page on applying for a land tax exemption, last updated on 7 October 2026, says an owner may receive an exemption if they own the property and use it as their primary residence on 30 June.

The same page lists the situations around a move that are also covered. One applies to a person moving from one home to another that they acquired in the previous financial year. One applies to a person building a new home who does not live at another property they own during construction. One applies to a person building on newly acquired land who plans to sell the old home. The primary residence of an owner who moves into full-time care can stay exempt, and there is a continued exemption for a private residence after the owner's death.

There is one firm limit. The private residences fact sheet page, dated 1 July 2026, states that a residential exemption is not available for a property owned by a corporation or held in trust. The pages also provide for partial exemptions, and cite Commissioner's Practice LT 23 for them.

None of the pages read gives the length of the transitional periods, a land area limit or the conditions for a home that is partly let.

Paying land tax and disputing a notice

The Government's "Pay land tax" page, last updated on 1 October 2026, says the options and due dates are printed on the notice of assessment. There are three. An owner who pays in full by the first instalment date receives a 3 per cent discount. An owner may instead pay in two instalments or in three, by the dates on the notice, with no extra charge and no discount. Only assessments issued on or before 30 June 2022 carry an additional 2 per cent for the three-instalment option. The page does not say whether the discount extends to the metropolitan levy shown on the same notice.

Missing an instalment has a defined consequence. The instalment option ends, and the full amount plus late payment penalty tax becomes due by the date on a notice of revocation. An owner who cannot pay may apply for a payment arrangement, and the page asks that this be done before the due date. An approved arrangement carries interest at the prescribed rate and may include a memorial.

A disagreement about the assessment itself goes to the Commissioner of State Revenue. The land tax assessment page says an objection must be lodged in writing within 60 days of the issue date of the notice, and that lodging an objection does not defer the liability.

Duty is settled once, from the price on the contract. Land tax is settled every year, from who owned the land at midnight on 30 June and what they used it for.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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