Valuation notices from the Valuer Generals office have been issued in NSW over the past few weeks. These valuations are used to calculate council rates and land tax and in many cases the valuation may be excessive.

Unfortunately, it’s an all too common occurrence where you hear of overvalued land resulting in excessive Land Tax Assessments.

In the case of a property in Campbelltown, following objection, the land value was reduced from $23 million to $10 million resulting in huge reductions in council rates and land tax. In some cases, these savings are retrospective.

Aside from excessive valuations, property owners should be aware of section 14G of the Valuation of Land Act which provides significant savings for Heritage Listed property.

Furthermore, section 14L provides allowances for site works and section 14S provides for a discount in one line for multiple holdings.

With only 60 days to object from the date you receive your land tax assessment notice, now is the time to give some consideration to the land tax objection and appeal process, to ensure that you’re not paying more land tax than you should be.

In order to object, you must provide evidence in support of the reasons for your objection based on features specific to your property, and to comparable sales evidence occurring around 1 July 2011. Both the valuation objection form and information on what constitutes good comparable sales evidence is available through the Land & Property Information (ex-Department of Lands) website at http://www.lpi.nsw.gov.au/.

To avoid the invariable headache that comes with any kind of appeal, it may be worth engaging a valuation expert to assist in gathering cogent comparable sales evidence.