Qld land tax clearance certificate

What information is available from a Qld land tax clearance certificate search?

The Queensland Revenue Office maintains current records of all outstanding land tax in Qld.

Purchasers should conduct a Qld land tax clearance certificate search to check if outstanding land tax exists.

View a sample clearance certificate.

What is a clearance certificate?

A clearance certificate is an official advice that no tax is payable on the blocks you enter, and the vendors owe no tax. It is valid during the financial year it was issued.

An immediate clearance is issued if:

  • no tax is payable on the identified blocks
  • no tax is owed by the identified vendors.

What is a liability advice?

A liability advice is an estimate of the land tax payable on a particular block of land, which potentially forms part of a total land tax assessment. This advice issues when the vendor is liable for land tax, but the assessment hasn’t been issued or not yet overdue for payment.

A land owner generally has a specified payment period from the land tax assessment issue date to pay the tax.

Before issuing a land tax assessment or before the due date expires, the landowner’s property would have a liability advice.

What is a garnishee notice?

A garnishee notice means that land tax is overdue. This includes the outstanding tax in the name of the vendor.

A garnishee notice issues for each owner of the property.

They may also issue in the name of any previous owner who owed tax. This is only where a clearance wasn’t applied for or granted on the land before the transfer to the current owner.

What if my settlement date falls in the next financial year?

You can submit a request for the next financial year during the previous year.

If submitted fifteen days or more before 1 July, the order may be sent to the Queensland Revenue Office to manually process. The certificate will then be issued as close to 30 June as possible.

How do I enter more land descriptions?

You can define up to 100 individual lots in one search. These can be a single lot or a range of lot numbers.

You can enter lots by using up to 50 land description input fields, provided the vendor(s) and purchaser(s) are the same for each instance. You can also add additional land description details by selecting ‘Add lot/plan’ under the initial land description.

If your land tax clearance search has one or more ‘Cancelled’ land descriptions, you’ll receive an error message. If more than one ‘Cancelled’ land description exists in the request, only the first land description will appear in the error message.

How do I proceed if the land description isn’t found?

If the land description you enter is unknown, the application will be processed manually.

The area you enter may help clarify the parcel to search. Specifically, you can enter measurements in either square metres or hectares, up to four decimal places.

How do I enter the area of a building unit?

Enter in m2 the area of a building unit.

How do I enter tenants in common or joint tenants in the ‘Vendor’ or ‘Purchaser’ fields?

Enter the details for each vendor or purchaser separately.

For instance, if John and Jill Smith are tenants in common, John Smith should be vendor one and Jill Smith should be vendor two. To enter John and Jill Smith as a single vendor is incorrect.

You can add or remove vendors or purchasers via add or delete.

When the purpose of the enquiry is for mortgage refinancing, what goes in the ‘Purchaser’ field?

Enter details of the financial institution refinancing the mortgage.

Can I request a certificate for due diligence?

Yes, the owner, purchaser or mortgagee of the land can request clearance certificates.

Applications by any other party for due diligence purposes won’t be processed.

Can I change the vendor details supplied by the database?

Yes, you can. If the vendor details on the Revenue Office database are incorrect, please check your records to verify your data. If you’re certain the returned details are incorrect, use the details that you have.

Your application will be sent for manual processing to check the details you’ve entered and verify them.

If the company name of the vendor or purchaser exceeds 40 characters, it can span the three name fields available. Keep words whole when spanning the fields.

The Revenue Office will identify trust ownership with the name of the trust rather than the trustee’s name.

What are the delivery options available?

Mostly, certificates will return an instant result. In some cases, orders queue for processing, and the result will be available from your Confirm inbox within 15 minutes.

If an error occurs during processing, a ‘More info’ link may display in your Confirm inbox. Please contact our Customer Service Centre on 1800 773 773 in this case.

Your order will go to the Revenue Office to manually process, and you’ll receive the result within 10 business days if any of the following occurs:

  • vendor/owner mismatch
  • unidentified land
  • unknown liability for block.

How does the Revenue Office process manual orders?

The Revenue Office validates information before issuing clearance certificates, liability advices and garnishee notices. This is to ensure all information is consistent with their database.

You’ll receive results via post. These orders will normally be completed within 10 days from the request date. The Revenue Office can’t fax certificates.

As no further actions take place online, the CITEC Confirm inbox status of the order remains as manual. The status will continue to display the original PDF manual processing notice even after the certificate has been issued.

Is it possible to receive more than one certificate per application?

Yes, you may receive multiple certificates per application. Liability advices may couple with a garnishee notice. Where a garnishee notice is issued, each vendor will receive a separate certificate.

Can’t find what you’re looking for?

Our Customer Service Centre is here to help you between 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday.

Phone 1800 773 773
Email confirm@citec.com.au

For more information on how to search, view our NSW and Qld conveyancing user guide.