In this article
Kooky
Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.
About Kooky and Shaka →Transfer duty is the largest cost of buying a property in Queensland after the property itself. On a $800,000 house it is more than $29,000 at the general rate, it has to be found in cash, and it falls due before the buyer has the keys. Most people still call it stamp duty, and most meet it for the first time as a single line in a conveyancer's estimate.
The tax itself is not complicated. There is one scale of rates, a concession for people buying a home to live in, a surcharge for foreign buyers, and a short set of deadlines. This guide sets out each of them as published by the Queensland Revenue Office: what duty is charged on, what it comes to at common prices, how the home concession works and what the buyer promises in return, and when and how the duty is paid. The separate concessions for first home buyers are a subject of their own and are mentioned here only where they meet the general rules.
Queensland Revenue Office, transfer duty pages.
What transfer duty is and who pays it
The Revenue Office defines transfer duty, formerly known as stamp duty, as a tax charged by the Queensland Government on certain transactions such as buying property, land or dutiable assets. It applies to residential homes, investment properties, vacant land, commercial properties and business assets. The same scale of rates is also used for two related duties that affect companies and trusts holding land, corporate trustee duty and landholder duty.
The buyer pays. The office's wording is that the buyer, whether an individual, a first home buyer, an investor, a business or a foreign purchaser, is usually responsible for paying the duty. The seller's costs of selling are of a different kind, and duty is not among them.
Related readCapital gains tax when you sell: the main residence exemption's limitsDuty is a tax on the transaction, not on the property or on the person over time. It is paid once, at the purchase. That distinguishes it from land tax, which the State charges every year on land held above a threshold, and from council rates.
It is also one of the State's biggest sources of revenue. The 2026-27 Queensland Budget, delivered on 23 June, forecasts $8.346 billion from transfer duty in the year, according to the summary of the Budget papers published by the accounting firm PwC. That scale is a large part of why the rates change rarely.
What the duty is calculated on
Duty is worked out on the dutiable value of the transaction. For an ordinary purchase between strangers, that is the price in the contract.
Where no money changes hands, or less than full value, the price is not the measure. The Revenue Office says duty can still apply to gifts and family transfers even if no money is exchanged, and that in those cases it is usually calculated on the property's market value. A parent who transfers a half share of a unit to an adult child for nothing has made a dutiable transaction, and the duty is assessed on what the half share is worth.
Some purchases cover more than one kind of property, such as a house with a shop at the front or a farm with a residence. The office's calculation page says a mixed-use property requires the dutiable value to be split between the different uses, because a concession for a home applies only to the residential part.
Related readCouncil rates in Queensland: how the bill is built and how to objectThe general rates
There is a single scale, and it is progressive in the same way as income tax: each rate applies only to the slice of value within its band.
| Dutiable value | Duty |
|---|---|
| Not more than $5,000 | Nil |
| More than $5,000, up to $75,000 | $1.50 for each $100, or part of $100, over $5,000 |
| More than $75,000, up to $540,000 | $1,050 plus $3.50 for each $100, or part of $100, over $75,000 |
| More than $540,000, up to $1,000,000 | $17,325 plus $4.50 for each $100, or part of $100, over $540,000 |
| More than $1,000,000 | $38,025 plus $5.75 for each $100, or part of $100, over $1,000,000 |
Queensland Revenue Office, transfer duty rates, page updated 25 June 2026.
The words "or part of $100" mean the value is rounded up to the next hundred dollars before the rate is applied. On a round-figure price the effect is nil.
The Revenue Office's own example is an investment property bought for $850,000. The duty is $17,325 on the first $540,000, plus $4.50 for each $100 of the remaining $310,000, which is $13,950, for a total of $31,275.
The marginal rates explain why duty feels heavier as prices rise. Between $75,000 and $540,000 each extra $10,000 of price adds $350 of duty. Between $540,000 and $1 million it adds $450. Above $1 million it adds $575. A buyer stretching from $980,000 to $1,020,000 pays the higher rate only on the last $20,000, not on the whole price, which is a point worth knowing in a negotiation near a band edge: there is no cliff in the general scale.
The home concession
A buyer who will live in the property pays less. The home concession, in the Revenue Office's words, applies a concessional rate to the first $350,000 of the consideration or value of the residence, and the general rates then apply to the balance. The concessional rate is 1 per cent, so the first $350,000 costs $3,500 instead of the $10,675 it would cost on the general scale. The difference, $7,175, is the most the concession can save, and every home priced at $350,000 or more receives that same saving.
Related readDraft law puts a 30% tax floor under family trusts that hold propertyThe office illustrates it with a $550,000 home: $3,500 on the first $350,000, plus $7,100 on the remaining $200,000, for $10,600 in total. At the general rate the same purchase would cost $17,775.
| Price | General rate | With home concession |
|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | $15,925 | $8,750 |
| $650,000 | $22,275 | $15,100 |
| $800,000 | $29,025 | $21,850 |
| $1,000,000 | $38,025 | $30,850 |
| $1,500,000 | $66,775 | $59,600 |
Illustrative figures calculated from the Queensland Revenue Office's published rates and home concession. No foreign acquirer duty applied.
The table shows the concession's character. It is a fixed-dollar saving, generous as a share of the duty on a cheaper home and modest on an expensive one: it removes 45 per cent of the duty at $500,000 and about 11 per cent at $1.5 million. The general rate column is what an investor pays, and what an owner-occupier pays if the concession is lost.
The home concession is the one available to any eligible buyer of a home, including someone who has owned before. First home buyers have their own, larger concessions with price limits, and a first buyer who qualifies for one of those claims it in place of the home concession.
The conditions that come with the concession
The concession is given at the time of purchase on the strength of what the buyer says they will do. The Revenue Office's home concession page lists the requirements.
The buyer must be acquiring the property as an individual. A company cannot claim it. The buyer must move into the home with their personal belongings and live there on a daily basis within one year of settlement, and the office states that this deadline cannot be extended.
Until the buyer has moved in, the property cannot be sold or transferred and cannot be leased or rented. After moving in, there is a further year in which the buyer cannot lease or rent out the entire property, or sell or transfer all or part of it, without consequences. Renting out part of the home while living there is permitted after moving in, where the lease started on or after 10 September 2024.
Related readCourt fines foreign owner $508,000 for leaving a block unbuiltBreaking an occupancy condition has to be reported
A buyer who does not move in within one year of settlement, who sells or transfers before moving in or within one year of moving in, or who leases the whole property within that year, must notify the Revenue Office using its Form D2.4. The duty can then be reassessed.
These conditions catch people whose plans change for ordinary reasons. A buyer who settles, is transferred interstate before moving in and lets the house has not met the conditions. Nor has a buyer who settles on a property with a tenant in place and leaves the tenancy running for eighteen months. In both cases the concession was claimed in good faith, and in both the saving of up to $7,175 becomes payable.
The residency rule from 1 August 2026
A new condition takes effect next month. The Revenue Office announced on Budget day, 23 June, that eligibility for the transfer duty home concessions will be limited to Australian citizens, permanent residents and specified foreign retirees, for transactions entered into from 1 August 2026.
The test is applied when the transaction is entered into
On the Revenue Office's wording, the citizenship or residency requirement applies to transactions entered into on or after 1 August 2026. A contract entered into before that date is assessed under the conditions that applied until then, whenever it settles.
The practical effect, as PwC's tax alert of 26 June explains it, is that a temporary resident buying a home to live in will pay duty at the standard rate from that date. The Budget expects the change to improve revenue by $28.9 million over four years. The office has said further detail will follow once the legislation has passed.
For citizens and permanent residents nothing changes except that the question will be asked. For a couple in which one partner is a citizen and the other holds a temporary visa, how the concession is shared is exactly the kind of detail to settle with a conveyancer before signing, once the final rules are published.
Foreign buyers and the additional duty
Queensland charges foreign buyers of residential land more. The Revenue Office's calculation page says foreign buyers are subject to an 8 per cent additional foreign acquirer duty on residential property, and its rates page describes it as applying to residential land purchases by foreign persons. It is added to the ordinary duty, not substituted for it.
Related readThe ATO clearance certificate every Queensland seller now needsThe amounts are large. On an $800,000 home the general duty is $29,025 and the additional duty is 8 per cent of the price, or $64,000, giving $93,025 in total. The additional duty alone is more than twice the ordinary duty at that price.
A buyer does not have to be overseas to be within the surcharge. Whether a person holding a visa, or a company or trust with foreign owners, counts as a foreign person for this purpose is a legal question with its own definitions, and it is one to raise with a solicitor before a contract is signed, not after.
When duty is lodged and paid
Duty has two clocks, one for lodging the transaction with the Revenue Office and one for paying.
- Liability arisesUsually the date the contract is signed or becomes unconditional.
- Within 30 daysThe documents must be lodged, by the buyer or online by a solicitor or conveyancer who is a registered self assessor.
- AssessmentA self assessor calculates the duty. For a buyer lodging directly, the office issues a notice of assessment with a due date.
- PaymentThrough a self assessor, duty is paid within 14 days after lodgement. Otherwise, by the due date on the notice.
- StampingOnce duty is paid the documents are stamped, which allows settlement and registration of the transfer to proceed.
The Revenue Office says documents must be lodged within 30 days from when the liability arises, which is usually the date the contract is signed or becomes unconditional. Note what that is not: it is not the settlement date. On a contract with a long settlement, the duty clock starts running months before the buyer takes possession. A buyer of land or of a property with an extended settlement needs the duty available early.
Most buyers never lodge anything themselves. Solicitors and conveyancers who are registered with the office as self assessors lodge the transaction online on the client's behalf, work out the duty and collect it from the client. For those transactions the office's guidance is that documents are lodged within 30 days and the duty paid within 14 days after that.
Related readGold Coast holds its rates rise to 4.7 per cent after dropping 5.7A buyer without a self assessor can lodge by post or email. The office says such a buyer will typically need the signed contract, the transfer duty statement known as Form D2.2, and any concession or exemption forms that apply. The office then assesses the documents and issues a notice of assessment stating the duty and the due date.
In either case the documents are not stamped until the duty is paid, and unstamped documents cannot be used to register the transfer. That is how the State makes sure it is paid: without duty there is no registered title in the buyer's name. Late lodgement or late payment, the office warns, can result in penalty tax and interest and can delay settlement.
Transfers without a sale
Not every dutiable transaction is a purchase on the open market, and the ones that are not tend to surprise people.
Adding a partner to the title of a home, moving a property from one family member to another, or transferring a share between co-owners are all transfers of an interest in land. The Revenue Office's guidance on gifts makes the general point: the absence of a price does not remove the duty, and the market value of what is transferred is usually the measure. On a half share of a home worth $700,000, the dutiable value is $350,000, and at the general rate the duty on that is $10,675.
The office publishes a list of exemptions, which cover particular situations and have their own conditions. Whether one applies turns on the facts and on the paperwork, and an exemption is something to be claimed, not assumed. Anyone planning to change the names on a title for family or financial reasons should have the duty worked out first, because it is assessed on the transaction whether or not anybody thought of it as a sale.
Where duty sits in a purchase budget
Because the amount is fixed by the price and the buyer's status, duty can be known to the dollar before an offer is made. The Revenue Office provides an estimator for straightforward purchases and a fuller calculator for those involving foreign buyers or more than one transaction.
Three questions decide the figure. What is the price or, for a transfer between relatives, the market value? Will the buyer live there within a year and meet the other conditions of a home concession, and, from 1 August 2026, the citizenship or residency requirement? And is any buyer a foreign person? An investor answers no to the second and pays the general rate. An owner-occupier who answers yes pays up to $7,175 less. A foreign buyer of a home adds 8 per cent of the price.
The answers can differ between co-buyers, and the duty can be reassessed later if what the buyer said at purchase turns out not to be what happened. Neither of those is unusual, and both are reasons the concession forms are worth reading before they are signed.
How the rules apply to a particular purchase depends on the buyer and the property. The Revenue Office's pages are the reference, and a solicitor or conveyancer registered as a self assessor is the person who will apply them to the contract.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
