Vacant Residential Land Tax Calculator VIC

What this calculator works out

This calculator estimates the annual Vacant Residential Land Tax (VRLT) the State Revenue Office (SRO) Victoria will assess on a residential property left vacant for more than six months in the prior calendar year. From 1 January 2025 VRLT applies state-wide — it used to be confined to 16 inner and middle Melbourne councils, but the 2024 reform extended it across the whole of Victoria. The calculator handles the staged rate and the most common exemptions so investors, trustees and holiday-home owners can sanity-check the bill before it arrives in the post.

What it does not do: it is not the ordinary Victorian land tax (use our VIC Land Tax Calculator for that), and it is not the one-off transfer duty paid at settlement (use our VIC Stamp Duty Calculator). VRLT is a separate, additional annual bill that stacks on top of ordinary land tax for the same property.

The formula and where the rates come from

The rate stack used here comes directly from the SRO's Vacant Residential Land Tax and VRLT Frequently Asked Questions pages, plus the dedicated VRLT calculator the SRO publishes. The structure for the 2025 and 2026 assessment years is:

Status in prior calendar year	VRLT charge
Vacant six months or fewer (aggregate)	nil
Vacant more than six months — year one of liability	1% of capital improved value
Vacant more than six months — year two consecutive	2% of capital improved value
Vacant more than six months — year three or later consecutive	3% of capital improved value

A few things matter about the base:

• Capital improved value (CIV) is the council valuation of land plus improvements. It is not the SRO site value that drives ordinary land tax. The two valuations differ — sometimes by a lot — because CIV includes the dwelling.
• The six-month vacancy test is aggregated, not consecutive. A property used for three months in summer and three months in winter still failed the test for the rest of the year and is in scope.
• Liability is set on 31 December of the prior calendar year; the bill is then issued early in the following year.

How to read the inputs

• Capital improved value (CIV) — Use the council valuation total from your municipal rates notice. Do not enter the SRO site value, the contract price or your insurance sum-insured.
• Months vacant in prior calendar year — Aggregate the months across the year. A property occupied for five months and vacant for seven is liable. A property occupied for seven months and vacant for five is not.
• Consecutive year of vacancy — Year one starts the first time the property is liable. The clock resets if the property becomes occupied again for more than six months in a year.
• Exemption claimed — Choose the exemption that fits, or No exemption to assess VRLT.

Worked examples

1. Year-on-year escalation on a $900,000 holiday flat. A Mornington Peninsula apartment with a council CIV of $900,000 is left vacant year after year by an interstate owner who never occupies it long enough to trigger the holiday-home exemption. Year one VRLT = 1% × $900,000 = about $9,000. Year two = 2% × $900,000 = about $18,000. Year three onwards = 3% × $900,000 = about $27,000 per year. By year three the property is bleeding three times the cost of holding it relative to the first year — a cumulative $54,000 over three years, on top of ordinary land tax on the site value.

2. Holiday home that meets the four-week occupancy test. An Australian-resident family owns a Phillip Island holiday house with a CIV of $1,200,000. It sits idle most of the year, but the owner stays for two weeks at Christmas, two weeks at Easter and a few long weekends — totalling more than four weeks of genuine use across the calendar year. Provided the owner has a separate principal place of residence in Australia, the holiday home exemption applies and VRLT = $0. Without it, the typical year-one bill would be 1% × $1,200,000 = $12,000.

3. Change-of-use exemption on a renovation flip. A Geelong investor buys a tired weatherboard with a CIV of $750,000 and starts a substantial renovation that runs for 18 months. The property is unoccupied for the entire prior calendar year. Without an exemption, the year-one VRLT would be 1% × $750,000 = about $7,500. The owner can claim the under construction or substantial renovation exemption (up to two years, extendable in limited cases) and the change-of-use exemption may also apply where the property is genuinely transitioning use — VRLT then drops to $0 for the assessment, provided the work is documented and the SRO accepts the claim.

4. Inherited property in transition. A daughter inherits her late father's St Kilda apartment with a CIV of $1,500,000. The unit sits vacant for the entire prior calendar year while the estate is being settled and she decides what to do. The inheritance exemption removes VRLT for up to three years from the date of death, so the bill is $0 even though the property failed the six-month test. Without the exemption it would have been 1% × $1,500,000 = about $15,000.

Common pitfalls

• CIV is not site value. The base for VRLT is the council CIV (land + dwelling), so a $400,000 site-value block with a $1.6M house pays VRLT on $2,000,000, not on $400,000. Investors used to ordinary land tax can dramatically understate the bill if they plug in the wrong figure.
• Six months is aggregated. Two short tenants and one long absence can still fail the test. The SRO looks at the whole calendar year.
• State-wide from 2025. Owners outside the original 16 inner and middle Melbourne councils were not in scope until 1 January 2025. If your property is in regional Victoria and was vacant in 2024, 2025 is the first year you can be assessed, and 2026 is the first year the 2% second-year rate can apply.
• Year-of-vacancy clock is consecutive. If you let the property out for more than six months in any single year, the clock resets to year one the next time it goes vacant.
• Holiday home exemption needs four weeks of genuine occupation. A handful of weekends does not meet the threshold; the SRO can require evidence (utility bills, contemporaneous photos, statutory declaration).
• The bill stacks on ordinary land tax. A vacant Melbourne investor home can attract both ordinary land tax (on site value, with the $50,000 threshold) and VRLT (on CIV) in the same year. Model both — see the VIC Land Tax Calculator.
• Foreign owners face the absentee surcharge too. A foreign owner of a vacant Victorian residence can attract VRLT, ordinary land tax, the 4% absentee surcharge and the 8% foreign purchaser additional duty at acquisition. Use the Foreign Purchaser Surcharge / Stamp Duty Calculator to model the duty side.
• Notification is the owner's job. The SRO does not always know a property is vacant; owners must self-notify by 15 January each year. Failure to notify can attract penalties on top of the assessed VRLT.

When to talk to a professional

This calculator gives a general estimate based on public SRO rate tables. The typical VRLT bill for the scenarios above is the figure shown, but binding outcomes — especially those involving trusts, deceased estates, partial occupation, restoration timelines or contested change-of-use — should be confirmed by a Victorian-registered tax agent or property solicitor. For your exact assessment, contact the State Revenue Office Victoria. Nothing on this page is personal financial, tax or legal advice.

Related calculators

• VIC Land Tax Calculator — model the ordinary annual land tax that runs alongside VRLT, including the $50,000 / $25,000 thresholds, 0.375% trust surcharge and 4% absentee surcharge.
• VIC Stamp Duty Calculator — the one-off Victorian transfer duty paid at settlement, including first home buyer concessions and the 8% foreign purchaser additional duty.
• Negative Gearing Calculator — fold VRLT and ordinary land tax into the broader holding-cost picture for an investment property.
• Property Depreciation Calculator — work out Division 40 plant and Division 43 capital works deductions to offset the holding-cost stack.

Sources:

• State Revenue Office Victoria — Vacant Residential Land Tax
• State Revenue Office Victoria — VRLT Frequently Asked Questions
• State Revenue Office Victoria — Vacant Residential Land Tax Calculator
• State Revenue Office Victoria — VRLT Holiday Home Exemption
• State Revenue Office Victoria — VRLT Change of Use Exemption
• State Revenue Office Victoria — Land tax current rates