Land tax, of which we collected $3.5 billion in 2018-19, is our third largest revenue line after payroll tax and land transfer duty.
This year we issued 481,175 land tax assessments, of which 106,807 were first-time assessments.
Prior to the 2019 land tax cycle, we enhanced our online land tax information thanks to valuable customer feedback.
AutoPay Instalments
For the first time, all people receiving 2019 land tax assessment were offered the new online service AutoPay Instalments, allowing them to pay over 38 weeks and schedule payments fortnightly, monthly or in four equal instalments.
Piloted with a section of land tax customers in 2016-17, AutoPay was developed with extensive customer input and was released in full in the 2019 land tax cycle.
As at 30 June 2019, there were 50,518 active AutoPay arrangements in place for 2019 assessments, with $845.4 million of 2019 liabilities (approximately 24%) under AutoPay arrangements.
Land tax clearance certificates
In 2019, we also amended the way people pay for land tax clearance certificates, moving from cheque only to credit card and BPAY. This also meant the certificates could be paid for as part of the conveyancing process, which is now all online.
This, along with other work we are doing to move to convenient online payment options led to a 67.8% reduction in the number of cheques we handled in 2018-19.
My Land Tax
In 2019-20, land tax customers will be able to update their contact details, view and pay their liabilities, and manage their property portfolio via a new online platform called My Land Tax.
Part of our larger and ongoing digital transformation work to digitise and streamline a range of processes, My Land Tax will make it easier for land tax customers who increasingly want to handle their affairs online.
