Stamp duty is the biggest on-road cost most buyers never price in until the contract is in front of them. It is charged by every state and territory when a vehicle is registered or transferred, the formulas differ wildly, and the same car can attract hundreds of dollars more duty on one side of a border than the other.
Every figure below was checked against the relevant state revenue office in September 2026. Rates change at budget time, so treat this as the map, and the revenue office calculator in your state as the final word.
How duty is calculated, in general
Everywhere in Australia, duty is a percentage-style charge on the dutiable value of the vehicle. For a new car that is broadly the price you pay, and several jurisdictions include extras in it: the Northern Territory, for example, counts accessories added to the vehicle and dealer delivery charges in the dutiable value. For used cars, New South Wales charges on the sale price or market value, whichever is higher, a pattern several other states share so that a $1 handshake price does not dodge the duty.
Beyond that shared skeleton, every jurisdiction has its own personality: some scale by value, some by cylinders, one by emissions.
State by state in 2026
- Victoria (from 1 July 2026): passenger cars pay $8.40 per $200 of value, which is 4.2 per cent, up to $80,809. Above that, bands step up: $10.40 per $200 to $100,000, $14 to $150,000, and $18 per $200 beyond. Green passenger cars, defined as emitting no more than 120g of CO2 per kilometre, stay on the base $8.40 rate no matter the value.
- New South Wales: $3 per $100 up to $44,999, then $1,350 plus $5 per $100 of the value above $45,000 for passenger vehicles. Check Revenue NSW for the current treatment of electric vehicles, which have had refund arrangements.
- Queensland: rated by engine, not just value. Hybrids and EVs pay $2 per $100, four cylinders or fewer pay $3, five and six cylinders $3.50, seven or more $4, with each rate rising by $2 per $100 on the value above $100,000.
- Western Australia: 2.75 per cent up to $25,000, a sliding formula between $25,000 and $50,000, and 6.5 per cent at $50,000 and above. WA is the most expensive mainstream jurisdiction for a mid-priced car.
- South Australia: non-commercial vehicles over $3,000 pay $60 plus $4 per $100 of the value above $3,000, which works out just under 4 per cent on typical car prices.
- Tasmania: $3 per $100 up to $35,000, a steep transition band of $1,050 plus $11 per $100 between $35,000 and $40,000, then a flat $4 per $100 for vehicles above $40,000.
- ACT: the only emissions-based system. New zero-emission vehicles pay $2.50 per $100 below $45,000, and rates climb through the emissions categories, with higher-value bands on top. Used vehicles other than zero-emission ones sit around $3.17 per $100. Current rates are published for the period to 31 January 2027.
- Northern Territory: the simplest of all, a flat $3 per $100, with the dutiable value including accessories and dealer delivery.
The same car, eight different bills
Run a $40,000 new four-cylinder petrol car, a thoroughly ordinary purchase, through each formula and the spread is stark. These are our own calculations from the published rates above:
- Victoria: $1,680
- NSW: $1,200
- Queensland: $1,200
- Western Australia: $2,000
- South Australia: $1,540
- Tasmania: $1,600
- ACT: about $1,200 for a typical mid-emissions new car
- Northern Territory: $1,200
Same car, an $800 spread between the cheapest and dearest jurisdiction. Make it a hybrid and Queensland drops to $800 while Victoria stays at $1,680. Push the price to $90,000 and Victoria's upper bands and WA's 6.5 per cent bite hard while the NT still charges its flat 3 per cent. The formulas reward knowing your own state's quirks: in Tasmania, for instance, the $35,000 to $40,000 transition band is so steep that duty barely differs between a $36,000 car and a $40,000 one.
Duty is only one line on the drive-away invoice
A drive-away price bundles the vehicle price with stamp duty, registration, CTP insurance and dealer delivery. Two consequences follow.
First, when you compare a drive-away quote against a "plus on-roads" quote, you are not comparing like with like until you add roughly a couple of thousand dollars of government and dealer charges to the second one.
Second, the advertised price of the car is not the amount you need to fund. A $40,000 car is a low-to-mid $42,000s purchase by the time it is legally on the road in most states, before a single option box is ticked.
Financing the on-road costs
Many lenders allow stamp duty and the other on-road costs to be included in the amount financed, so the loan covers the true drive-away figure rather than just the car. That is convenient, and for most buyers it is the practical reality. It also has two honest costs worth seeing clearly.
Interest applies to every dollar financed, so duty rolled into a loan costs more than duty paid upfront, spread invisibly across the term. And every dollar of costs financed on top of the car's value deepens the gap between what you owe and what the car is worth, which is exactly the negative equity position that stings at trade-in time, and the shortfall that gap insurance exists to patch. Duty, unlike the car, has no resale value.
None of that says do not finance the on-roads. It says decide it consciously: if paying duty in cash keeps the loan at or under the car's value, the whole structure is healthier.
Three checks before you sign
- Run your exact car through your state revenue office's duty calculator rather than estimating, because thresholds and vehicle categories move the answer.
- If you are quoted drive-away, ask for the breakdown so you can see duty, rego, CTP and dealer delivery as separate lines.
- If you are financing, check whether the amount financed is the car price or the drive-away figure, and stress-test the repayment on the real number with our calculators.
Buying across a border rarely dodges duty, by the way: the charge generally follows where the vehicle is registered, not where it is bought, so registering your purchase at home attracts your home state's duty.
Loanseekers compares more than 70 lenders on how they handle the full drive-away amount, not just the sticker price. Start at the car loans page, or see the first car buyer guide for the full cost-of-ownership picture.
