Your rates help Local Land Services enable change and build community capacity – helping you make more informed decisions to enhance the management and productivity of your land.
Rates contribute to our biosecurity, animal health and emergency management work which helps us help you when you need it most.
The rates you pay mean we can maintain a secure, healthy and productive landscape.
How do I pay my rates?
When do I pay my rates?
Local Land Services rates notices are issued in February each year.
Payment terms are 30 days after the issue date.
More payment options
Credit card
Call 1300 738 070 to pay by credit card – MasterCard or Visa. There will be no surcharge when paying by credit card.
In person
Pay in person at a Local Land Services office – pay by credit card or cash (not all offices can take cash payments).
Understanding your rates notice
This is a sample of the 2025 rates notice.
The numbers and steps will help you understand each part of the invoice.
- Invoice number: helps us identify your rates notice should you wish to discuss it with us.
- Payment due date: payment of your rates is required by this date.
- Notional Carrying Capacity: this is calculated from the rateable area (land size of the holding in hectares) multiplied by the stock units per hectare. This shapes how your rates are calculated (see points 4, 5, 6 and 7).
- Rates – General: calculated using your Notional Carrying Capacity and a variable component plus a base charge.
- Rates – Animal Health: calculated using your Notional Carrying Capacity and a variable component plus a base charge.
- Levy – Meat Industry: this is a statutory levy collected on behalf of NSW Food Authority and is calculated using your Notional Carrying Capacity and a variable component plus a base charge.
- Special Purpose Pest Management Rate: this contributes to plague locust and pest management activities and is calculated using your Notional Carrying Capacity and a variable component plus a base charge.
- Total amount due: this balance shows the required total payment for this invoice.
- Payment options: several contactless payment options are available to pay your rates, please call the enquiry line if you have any questions.
Financial support to pay your rates
If you are experiencing hardship, please contact your nearest Local Land Services office to discuss what options we have available.
Our friendly customer service team will be able to discuss your options with you according to your situation.
Other assistance
The NSW Government has a range of financial assistance programs for eligible landholders to help them recover from natural disaster events and deal with difficult financial situations.
Please visit the Rural Assistance Authority or Service NSW for more information.
Why do I pay my rates?
Your rates help to fund our biosecurity, animal health and emergency work, which includes:
- coordinating and supporting landholders to control pests and meet your legal obligations
- our animal health programs
- supporting agriculture and animals during emergencies
- supporting stock identification systems.
Who pays Local Land Services rates?
Under the Local Land Services Act 2013, we may charge rates on all land classified as rateable land under the Act. This is generally land that is 10 hectares or more in size (40ha in the Western Region and 20ha in some parts of Murray and Riverina regions).
Why do Local Land Services charge rates?
Local Land Services rates help grow and protect NSW landscapes and agricultural industries.
The rates we charge are different to council rates charged under the Local Government Act 1993. Council land zoning for your property, for example, rural residential, has no bearing on the calculation of Local Land Services rates.
Where do my rates go?
Rates contribute up to one fifth of Local Land Services budget, and 100% of rates collected are returned to you as customers through our services and support.
Your rates at work
Your rates allow us to support you to meet your general biosecurity duty in controlling invasive pests and reducing weed spread.
Rates also help maintain vital market access for producers and are crucial to supporting our control programs when exotic animal or plant disease outbreaks happen, as well as other biosecurity threats to industry.
Frequently asked questions on rates
We expect to issue rates notices in February 2026. Payment terms are 30 days after the issue date.
Rates are calculated based on several variables and will look different for each property. These variables include:
- General base and variable rate which includes a standard base amount per rateable holding plus a variable component based on the notional carrying capacity (NCC) applied to your holding.
- Animal health base and variable rate which includes a standard base amount if you hold stock and a variable component (based on minimum stock numbers being declared in your Annual Land and Stock Return) multiplied by the NCC applied to your holding. These charges will also apply for non or late lodgement of the annual return. The Local Land Services Regulation 2014 states 50 stock units are the minimum after which the animal health component will be included. The Regulation defines a stock unit as a 40 kilogram wether sheep of any breed – a 400 kilogram steer of any breed represents 10 stock units. The Regulation also provides equivalents for other types of stock.
- Meat industry levy which is charged on behalf of and passed onto the Food Authority on the same basis as the animal health rate. The levy has a base charge of $5.00 and is capped at a maximum of $130.00.
- Special purpose pest management rate which supports statewide plague locust and pest animal control as a priority, while investing a portion in the management of state and regional pest priorities.
As there are large differences in the size, carrying capacity and use of properties across NSW, rates vary accordingly. Your previous rates notice is a good indication of what your future notices may be.
Notional Carrying Capacity (NCC) is an estimate of how many livestock your property can sustainably support per hectare in an average year. This figure helps LLS calculate your rates based on your land's productivity.
When you are looking at your rates notice the “Stock Units/hectare: XX.XXX” shown is referring to the amount of stock that can be held on each hectare.
A stock unit is a standard way to compare different types of livestock:
| Animal Type | Stock Units |
|---|---|
| Sheep, goat, deer, alpaca, llama, ostrich, emu (6+ months old) | 1 unit |
| Cattle, horse, buffalo, camel (6+ months old) | 10 units |
| Pig (any age) | 1 unit |
The estimated total carrying capacity for your land is worked out by multiplying the area of land x stock units per hectare – this amount can be seen beside the Base Charge for your general rates.
How to calculate your total:
Area of land (hectares) × stock units per hectare = total stock units.
Example: if your NCC is 3 stock units per hectare on 100 hectares, you could run:
- 300 sheep (40kg each), or
- 30 cattle (400kg each), or
- a mix (for example 150 sheep + 15 cattle = 300 stock units total).
Landholders are charged animal health and meat industry levies on their rates notices for one of 2 reasons.
- You submitted an Annual Land and Stock Return last year where you indicated that you had 50 or more Dry Sheep Equivalent (DSE) on your holding on 30 June 2025.
- Your Annual Land and Stock Return was not received by the deadline of 31 August 2025.
As each property has a separate account number you will need to pay each notice separately.
Please use the reference number on each notice to make a payment. This will ensure your payments are allocated to your accounts correctly.
In the first instance, you should seek clarification on the calculation by contacting Local Land Services.
If you believe your rates are invalid, you may lodge an appeal with the Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
This year, Local Land Services will be distributing account statements (where applicable) with the rates notice mail out. This will clearly outline if your account has a credit or arrears.
If you believe there is a credit on your account, customer service staff can check your balance and, if so, step you through the refund process.
Any account with a large credit (>$1,000) should receive a call from relevant regional staff and be proactively managed as a matter of urgency. Account statements (similar to monthly statements) will also be issued for any landholder with credits on accounts.
Outstanding Local Land Services rates are usually identified during the conveyancing process (following a search) and adjusted at settlement. In some cases, conveyancers may not be aware they should request a search for Local Land Services rates. This may lead to outstanding Local Land Services rates being transferred to the new owner or occupier.
Local Land Services is not able to recover rates from a previous property owner. The new property owner (or occupier) should contact their solicitor or conveyancer to seek recovery from the previous owner.
Please note, there will be a period where a surveyor/solicitor (on behalf of purchaser) will be able search and find the 2026 rates owing amount, before the vendor will have received the invoice.
Under the Local Land Services Act 2013, interest accrues on unpaid rates and charges. Local Land Services will take measures to recover outstanding debt.
The interest rate applied is 13.93% from 1 January 2025.
Local Land Services acknowledges that some customers have had a difficult few years due to seasonal conditions (including drought, fire and/or floods) and this has been compounded by biosecurity impacts.
Where landholders are experiencing hardship, they are encouraged to contact their nearest Local Land Services office to discuss what options may be available to them.
"AR Interface Doc 1" is our internal identifier for your annual rates amount. This is what is owed to be paid to Local Land Services as your rates.
"AR Interface Doc 2" is our internal identifier for your annual Routine Stock Movement Permit amount. This is what is owed to be paid to Local Land Services for your permit.
There are no pensioner or other discounts. Where landholders are experiencing hardship, they are encouraged to contact their nearest Local Land Services office to discuss what options may be available to them.
Local Land Services provides a wide range of support to grape, citrus and apple growers, including through emergencies, natural disasters and biosecurity threats.
Local Land Services also provides services spanning land management, natural resource management, biosecurity surveillance and invasive pest management.
If you fail to lodge your return, the Animal Health and Meat Industry Levy will automatically apply on your rates notice the following year.
Rates are not our only source of income – they contribute around one fifth of our funding. Other sources of income for Local Land Services can include grants and other contributions from state and federal government.
All Local Land Services rates notices are currently sent by post. A transition to email rates notices is expected to occur by 2027 for landholders who wish to receive their rates notices via email.
Contact Local Land Services NSW
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