The Act directly affects every owner or occupier of land in Victoria. Section 2(1) defines owner as the person entitled to receive the rack-rent or who would be so entitled if the land were let at a rack-rent. Occupiers are also served with notices where they are not the owner (s 15(7)).

Rating authorities are the primary users. Rating authority is defined in s 2(1) to include every council, water authorities, Melbourne Water Corporation, the Commissioner of State Revenue (for land tax, commercial and industrial property tax and windfall gains tax) and any other prescribed body. Councils receive general valuations under s 11 and may request supplementary valuations under s 13DFB. Collection agencies under the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund Act 2012 receive valuations under Part IIA.

The Valuer-General and deputy valuers-general (employed under the Public Administration Act 2004 – s 3(1)) together with any valuers they appoint or engage on a fee basis (s 3(3)) are the actors who actually perform the valuations. Only persons with qualifications or experience specified by Ministerial notice may be appointed (ss 13DA(2), 13J(2)).

Transmission easement holders are a specialised class. They receive separate valuations under s 5B that reduce the site value of the burdened land for land-tax purposes and may object under s 17A.

Persons who become liable for windfall gains tax after a rezoning event are affected by the supplementary valuation regime in Part IIB. The Commissioner may request such a valuation (s 13P) and must serve a notice of valuation (s 15AA).

Finally, any person who receives a notice of valuation or a tax or rate assessment based on a valuation under this Act is a potential objector. Section 16(4)–(6AC) deem a wide range of persons to be “aggrieved” even if they were not originally served, including subsequent purchasers assessed for land tax or windfall gains tax on an earlier valuation.

Duties of the Valuer-General include causing annual general valuations (ss 11, 13H), certifying that they are generally true and correct (s 7AD), maintaining the valuation record (s 7C), publishing Valuation Best Practice Specifications Guidelines (s 5AA), providing releasable information on payment of fees (s 7E), and determining objections (s 21). The Valuer-General must give rating authorities at least one month’s notice before a general valuation commences (s 6(1A)) and must apportion additional costs when authorities request extra bases of value (s 6(5)).

Duties of valuers appointed to carry out valuations include making a statutory declaration of impartiality (s 13DH(2)), returning valuations in the prescribed form, having regard to general levels of value in the existing valuation when performing supplementary valuations (ss 13DF(6), 13L(7)), and entering alterations on the return (s 13DF(8)).

Rights of landowners and occupiers centre on receipt of a notice of valuation (s 15) containing the three statutory values, the AVPCC and the date of valuation. They may object on any ground in s 17, including that the value assigned is incorrect, that the apportionment is wrong, or that the AVPCC is misallocated. Where the value exceeds the prescribed amount, the objector must state the contended correct value (s 16(3A)), although that figure is not binding (s 16(3B)). Objectors are entitled to prescribed information (s 20(2)), a reasonable opportunity to discuss the objection (s 21(2B)), and written notice of the valuer’s and Valuer-General’s decisions (s 21(3), (5)). If dissatisfied, they may apply to VCAT within the times fixed by s 22 or have the matter referred to the Supreme Court.

Rating authorities have the right to request that a general valuation show net annual value, site value or capital improved value (s 6(2)) and to request supplementary valuations (ss 13DFB, 13N). They may use a supplementary valuation before certification in limited circumstances (s 13DF(3A)).

The Commissioner enjoys specific rights to request transmission-easement valuations (s 5B(2)) and supplementary valuations for windfall gains tax (s 13P), and must be notified of certain objections (s 21A).

Enforcement is largely administrative rather than punitive. The principal sanction for non-cooperation is a criminal offence under s 3A(2): refusal to allow entry, inspection or answer relevant questions after being informed of the authority and purpose carries a penalty of 2 penalty units. Failure to take the required oath or affirmation of fidelity and secrecy (s 3A(4)) attracts 4 penalty units. Wilful breach of the secrecy oath is punishable by 10 penalty units or 12 months’ imprisonment or both (s 3A(5)).

There are no direct civil penalties for inaccurate valuations; instead, the Act relies on the objection, review and appeal system coupled with the Valuer-General’s certification power. If the Valuer-General is not satisfied that a supplementary valuation is correct, the valuer must perform a further valuation (ss 13DFA(2), 13M(2)). Persistent failure could engage public-service disciplinary processes under the Public Administration Act 2004.

Rates and taxes remain recoverable pending objection, review or appeal (s 29), giving authorities strong cash-flow protection. Costs orders on review or appeal can be used to discipline unreasonable conduct (s 26(2)(e)).

The Act is deliberately integrated with the taxation and local-government statutes it supports. It defines rateable land by reference to the Local Government Act 1989 and non-rateable leviable land, collection agency and emergency services and volunteers funding levy by reference to the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund Act 2012 (s 2(1)). Windfall gains tax and WGT event are defined by reference to the Windfall Gains Tax Act 2021; commercial and industrial property tax by reference to the Commercial and Industrial Property Tax Reform Act 2024.

Valuations feed directly into the Land Tax Act 2005. Section 5B requires annual valuation of transmission easements to enable the land-tax reduction under Division 4 of Part 2 of that Act. Objections to land-tax assessments based on valuations under this Act are routed through the Commissioner to the Valuer-General (s 16(6B)).

Planning law is central. Section 5A(3)(b) requires regard to planning schemes when determining value; s 13DF(2)(b) and s 13L(2)(b) treat approval or amendment of a planning scheme that materially alters value as a trigger for supplementary valuation. Rezonings that constitute a WGT event engage Part IIB.

Privacy is governed by the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014; the Valuer-General must comply with Information Privacy Principles when releasing data (s 7D(1)). Freedom of information is preserved by s 3A(6).

The Valuation Best Practice Specifications Guidelines prepared under s 5AA operate as a form of soft law that valuers must follow; AVPCC codes are allocated on the basis of those guidelines (s 2(1)).

Transitional provisions in the Act itself (ss 35–39) and in amending Acts (e.g. State Taxation Acts Further Amendment Act 2017) preserve the legal effect of earlier valuations for objection and appeal purposes.

The most significant recent amendments were made by the State Taxation Further Amendment Act 2024 (No. 50/2024). These repealed large tranches of redundant process (former ss 7, 7AA–7AC, 7AE, 7A, 7B) that had duplicated effort between the Valuer-General and councils. The Act now centralises responsibility for certification of general valuations in the Valuer-General (s 7AD) and ministerial declaration (s 7AF). Certification of supplementary valuations was streamlined (new ss 13DFA, 13M). The changes reflect a policy decision to reduce duplication after the move to annual valuations and to give the Valuer-General clearer accountability for the quality of the valuation record.

Part IIB was inserted by the Windfall Gains Tax and State Taxation and Other Acts Further Amendment Act 2021 (No. 52/2021) to enable rapid supplementary valuations on rezoning events that trigger windfall gains tax. The Commissioner may request such a valuation (s 13P); the valuer must assess what the land would have been worth had it been zoned in accordance with the rezoning at the date of the last general valuation (s 13Q(2)). This addresses the practical difficulty of taxing uplift that occurs between general valuation dates.

The Fire Services Property Amendment (Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund) Act 2025 updated terminology throughout Parts IIA and IIB to replace references to the “fire services property levy” with “emergency services and volunteers funding levy”, ensuring consistency with the new funding statute.

Section 2(2B) was added by the State Taxation Acts and Other Acts Amendment Act 2023 (No. 38/2023) to confirm that fixtures form part of capital improved value, resolving earlier doubt.

These changes respond to two recurring problems: the administrative burden of parallel valuation processes and the need for up-to-date values when tax events occur mid-cycle.

Because the statute expressly grounds every claim in the source text, the following controversies arise directly from its provisions.

The meaning of “materially altered” in s 13DF(2)(h), (j) and (n) has generated dispute. Councils and valuers have differed on the threshold at which physical changes or works of man justify a supplementary valuation. The Act provides no statutory definition, leaving the issue to factual assessment by the valuer and, on objection, by VCAT or the Supreme Court.

The interaction between s 2(8) (formerly excluding certain tree plantations from net annual value and capital improved value) and later amendments produced transitional litigation. Section 21(8) and s 24(3) (inserted by the State Taxation Acts Further Amendment Act 2017 and preserved by s 39 of the 2024 Act) now expressly direct that, for site-value objections to 2018 and later valuations, no account is to be taken of the former s 2(8) or (9). This was a legislative response to objections that sought to rely on outdated exclusions.

The scope of “aggrieved” under s 16(4)–(6AC) has been tested. Purchasers who receive a land-tax assessment based on a valuation issued to a previous owner are deemed aggrieved and may object within two months of the assessment (s 16(6A)). The 2024 amendments clarified that an objection to one capital improved value used for windfall gains tax is taken to object to all such values (s 16(6AC)), preventing fragmented challenges.

Costs disputes under s 26 are frequent. The tribunal or court must weigh openness in sharing information, reasonableness of conduct, and the extent of any adjustment obtained. An “excessively low” value stated by an objector under s 24(2) can result in an adverse costs order (s 26(2)(g)). VCAT has interpreted this as requiring genuine belief rather than a purely tactical figure.

The validity of general valuations that miss the statutory return date was put beyond doubt by new s 51, inserted in 2024. Previously, late returns invited arguments that the entire valuation was a nullity; the section now provides that missing the s 11(b) or s 13H(b) deadline does not invalidate the valuation.

No reported Supreme Court authority has struck down a valuation on the ground that the Valuer-General failed to prepare or publish the Valuation Best Practice Specifications Guidelines under s 5AA, but the mandatory language (“must prepare”) suggests that wholesale non-compliance could be justiciable.

Most practitioners miss that a supplementary valuation requested by a council under s 13DFB can be used for rating purposes before the Valuer-General certifies it (s 13DF(3A)). Many assume certification is a precondition to any legal effect; the Act expressly relaxes that requirement for council-initiated supplements.

The information-exchange regime in s 20 applies only where the value in dispute exceeds the prescribed amount. Below that threshold the objector receives no automatic disclosure of the valuer’s sales evidence or methodology. This can produce an information asymmetry that is not obvious from the objection form.

Section 2(3B) contains an important apportionment rule for non-rateable non-leviable land used for land tax, commercial and industrial property tax or windfall gains tax. The capital improved value and site value of each part are apportioned by reference to estimated annual value even though no rates are levied on that land. Failure to appreciate this can lead to incorrect objections when a tax assessment arrives for part of a larger holding.

Transmission-easement valuations under s 5B are not notified under the general s 15 regime; instead the Commissioner serves a specific notice (s 15A). The two-month objection period runs from service of that notice, not from any general valuation notice. Easement holders who monitor only council rate notices can easily miss the deadline.

The definition of farm land in s 2(1) contains a three-limb profitability test that is often misapplied. The land must be at least 2 ha, used primarily for listed agricultural activities, and used by a business that has a significant commercial purpose, seeks to make a profit on a continuous basis, and is either making a profit or has a reasonable prospect of doing so. All three elements must be satisfied; a hobby farm that fails the profit test is valued as residential or urban farm land, which can dramatically increase its site value.

Finally, the 10-business-day delivery obligation imposed on the Valuer-General after a council or collection-agency request for a supplementary valuation (ss 13DFB(3), 13N(3)) is measured from the later of completion or return to the Valuer-General. Councils sometimes assume the clock starts when they lodge the request; the Act ties it to the valuer’s return, which can create unexpected delays.

Compliance for rating authorities begins with timely notice to the Valuer-General under s 6(2) if they require particular bases of value to be shown. They must then serve notices of valuation by 30 September (s 15(4)) using the service methods in s 15B. When a supplementary valuation is desired, the request must be in writing and accompanied by the prescribed valuation data report (s 13DFB(2)).

For valuers, the statutory declaration of impartiality (s 13DH(2)) must be made before any work commences. Valuations must be returned in the form prescribed by the Valuation Best Practice Specifications Guidelines and must allocate an AVPCC to every separate occupancy (s 13DC(1)(b)). Supplementary valuations must be performed by reference to the general levels of value in the existing valuation (s 13DF(6)).

Landowners who receive a notice should immediately check the three statutory values, the AVPCC and the description of the land against their own records. If an objection is warranted, it must be lodged with the authority that served the notice (or with the Commissioner where a tax assessment triggers the right under s 16(6A) or (6AB)) within two months. The objection must state the grounds from s 17 and, where value is contested above the prescribed amount, the contended correct value (s 16(3A)). Supporting material should be collated early because the information-exchange window under s 20 is only one month after referral to the valuer.

Owners contemplating development or subdivision should monitor planning approvals; these can trigger a supplementary valuation that increases value from the date of the return, not merely from the next general valuation. Where a rezoning triggers windfall gains tax, the supplementary valuation under Part IIB will be performed on a “before and after” zoning basis; early engagement with the Valuer-General’s office can reduce later disputes.

All parties should maintain accurate contact details, including electronic addresses, because service by electronic means is now expressly authorised (s 15B(1)(d)) and time runs from receipt (s 15B(2)(d)).

Finally, because the Act is amended frequently and contains layered transitional provisions, practitioners should always check the version number (currently 161 as at 1 July 2025) and the savings clauses (ss 35–39) before advising on any valuation returned before 1 January 2025. The safest course is to treat every general valuation as presumptively valid (s 51) and to focus objection efforts on the specific grounds in s 17 that can be factually substantiated.