Who's enTitled to Land Tax?

NSW land titles does not recognise trusts. The trustee is registered as owner. Revenue NSW as the collector of land tax inherits this information and is unable to distinguish land vested in bankruptcy trustees from any personal land holdings.

For 20 years I have had an awkward relationship with Revenue NSW as every few years they would assess me personally for multiple properties for multiple years for land tax which was not payable (as the residential exemption applying to the bankrupts still applied). This would result in significant time to resolve and disrupt settlements scheduled in the beginning of the calendar year.

In 2023 Revenue NSW converted to a digital platform. Despite the above known issue, the digital system does not distinguish bankruptcy trustees. As a result, vested property is added to the Trustee’s personal Service NSW account, the trustee is assessed personally and existing exemptions lost. There is no option to identify as a bankruptcy trustee and requests for residential exemptions are refused (because the computer says the trustee doesn’t live there).

More progress takes us back to the future!

Have other jurisdictions be able to solve this problem?