Foreign owners of residential dwellings in Australia are required to pay an annual vacancy fee if their dwelling is not residentially occupied or rented out for more than 183 days (six months) in a year.
The vacancy fee return must be lodged by foreign owners of residential dwellings who:
made a foreign investment application for residential property after 7.30pm AEST on 9 May 2017
purchased under a New Dwelling Exemption Certificate that a developer applied for after 7:30pm AEST on 9 May 2017.
The vacancy fee may also apply where a foreign person failed to submit a foreign investment application but purchased a residential property before 9 May 2017.
Foreign owners of vacant land do not have to lodge a vacancy fee return until a dwelling has been constructed on the land. Returns need to be lodged even when the dwelling has been occupied or made available for rent.
For the purpose of applying the vacancy fee rules, a vacancy year is each successive period of 12 months starting on the occupation day for the dwelling during which you have continuously held an interest in the dwelling.
Vacancy fee returns must be lodged within 30 days of the end of each vacancy year.
The vacancy fee will generally be the same amount as the foreign investment application fee paid at the time you submitted your foreign investment application.