Answers · Land tax and outgoings (Qld)
How does land tax interact with outgoings in a Queensland commercial lease?
Direct answer
Land tax in Queensland is assessed on the landlord as owner, but many commercial and industrial leases pass it through to the tenant as a recoverable outgoing — whether that's allowed depends entirely on the lease wording, not a general rule. Some lease types restrict passing land tax on; industrial and commercial leases outside those restrictions more commonly permit it.
Land tax sits differently to other outgoings like rates or insurance because it's calculated on the owner's total landholdings, not just the one property — which makes apportioning it to a single tenant more complex, and is exactly why lease wording on the point matters so much. A lease might recover land tax at a single-holding basis (as if the property were the owner's only land) rather than the owner's actual total liability, which changes the number materially.
For a tenant, the practical step is reading the outgoings clause specifically for how land tax is treated — whether it's included at all, how it's calculated, and whether it's capped or excluded in the early years of the lease as an incentive. For a landlord, being transparent about the calculation basis avoids disputes at the annual reconciliation, when the actual figure is issued and can otherwise come as a surprise.
This is general information about how land tax commonly interacts with commercial leases in Queensland, not tax or legal advice — land tax rules and lease terms both vary, so get your own advice on how it applies to a specific property and lease.
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