View, lodge or pay
To view, lodge or pay the vacancy fee return (the return) log in to Online services for foreign investors, and on the home page select either:
- Lodgments then Vacancy fee return, or
- the Lodge or pay vacancy fee return quick link.
Then select Add then Start.
You can view details of previous returns.
If your details (investor, foreign person, asset) have changed:
- this may affect your liability to pay a vacancy fee
- update your details and the asset before completing your vacancy fee return.
For information about your vacancy fee return obligations and fees see Vacancy fee for foreign owners.
Complete the return
You need to complete and lodge your return in one session, because you can't save your progress to complete later.
To complete the return you'll need:
- the vacancy return year (use the year only)
- the number of days the property was residentially occupied (more or less than 183 days)
- a date listed at Occupancy date, if there is no date showing follow the troubleshooting instructions to contact us.
You can find the vacancy return year in your reminder to lodge email. If you don't have a reminder to lodge email, you can still complete the return. The vacancy return year is the last date in the vacancy year period. For example, if the vacancy return year is 2 February 2022 to 2 February 2023, the vacancy return year is 2023.
When you have completed the return, check the details and select:
- Submit, or
- Back – to update any details.
After you have successfully submitted your return, a message will display to let you know if you need to pay a vacancy fee or not.
Select the Print-friendly version button to print a copy of your return or save it as a PDF.
Pay a vacancy fee
You will be prompted to make a payment when lodging the return if you are liable for the vacancy fee for that year. You can also pay at a later time.
For instructions on how to pay a vacancy fee see Make payments and view transactions.
Update contact details
You can have a different contact for your vacancy fee return than what is listed in your profile. If we have questions about your vacancy fee return, we will contact the person listed.
To review and update your preferred contact details, select Entity or Another contact.
Required information:
- Entity – the details are prefilled. You need to include a person as the contact.
- Another contact – name, email, phone, role (lawyer or solicitor, migration agent, real estate agent, accountant, conveyancer, other), company legal name, country.