Long service levy

Construction work is project based, so workers move between employers far more often than in other industries. Left to the ordinary rules, almost nobody in the industry would ever reach a long service entitlement. Every state and territory solves this the same way: a statutory scheme holds the entitlement centrally, service follows the worker rather than the employer, and a levy funds it.

What differs is who pays and how it is calculated, and the schemes split into two models.

Project value schemes. New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory charge a one off levy on the cost of the building work, payable by the person the work is being done for, before the job starts.

Wages schemes. Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory charge registered employers a percentage of the wages they pay to eligible construction workers, through regular returns.

The practical consequence is that a builder working across borders deals with two completely different obligations. In Sydney the levy is a line in the project budget that has to be paid before a certificate issues. In Melbourne it is a payroll cost that lands every quarter whether or not a particular job is running.

For a deeper look, read The Long Service Levy: What Every Australian Builder Pays, State by State. Try the free Long Service Levy Calculator.

Rates and thresholds are reviewed regularly, so confirm the current figure with the scheme before pricing it into a budget.

New South Wales. Long Service Corporation, 0.25% of the cost of the work, on projects of $250,000 or more including GST. The levy has to be paid before building work starts.

Queensland. QLeave, 0.575% in total, on work of $150,000 or more excluding GST, payable before the development permit issues or before work starts.

Northern Territory. NT Build, 0.1%, on projects of $1 million or more, with single dwellings excluded, payable before construction starts.

Victoria. LeavePlus, previously CoINVEST, with no project threshold. Registered employers pay 2.7% of wages through quarterly returns.

Western Australia. MyLeave, 0.75% of wages for the 2026 calendar year, paid by registered employers in a quarterly return within fifteen days of the end of the quarter.

South Australia. The construction industry portable long service leave scheme, 2.0% of wages, paid by registered employers on bi monthly returns.

Tasmania. TasBuild, 2.5% of wages, reduced to 1.8% where returns are lodged and paid on time, on monthly returns.

Australian Capital Territory. ACT Leave, 2.75% of wages, paid by registered employers quarterly.

Under the project value schemes the levy is legally the responsibility of the person the work is being done for, which usually means the owner, the developer or the applicant for the approval. In practice it is often paid by the builder and recovered, so the contract needs to say who carries it. Left ambiguous, it turns up as an argument at the first claim.

Timing is the part that catches teams out, because the levy is tied to approval and commencement rather than to progress. In New South Wales building work can only start once the levy is paid. In Queensland it is payable before the development permit issues. Either way, an unpaid levy can hold up an approval and therefore the start on site, which makes it a programme risk as much as a cost.

Under the wages schemes there is no project trigger at all. The employer registers, reports the eligible workers and their wages on the scheme's cycle, and pays on every return. New employers are the ones most likely to get this wrong, because the obligation begins with the first eligible worker, not with the first large job.

Where the value of the work changes, the project value schemes generally expect the levy to be adjusted. A job that grows through variations can owe more than was paid at the start, and that reconciliation is easy to forget once the approval is in hand.

Leaving it out of the budget. On a project value scheme the levy is a real cost on a real date. It belongs in the preliminaries with the approval fees, not discovered during the first claim.

Using the wrong base. Some schemes work on the cost of the work including GST and others exclude it, and the thresholds differ as well. Applying one state's rule in another state gets the number wrong in both directions.

Assuming a threshold means exemption from everything. A project under the threshold in New South Wales still involves employers who may have obligations in other states, and the wages schemes have no project threshold at all.

Forgetting the adjustment after variations. The levy was calculated on the value at the start. If the job grew, check whether the scheme expects a top up.

Treating interstate work as one obligation. A builder operating in several states is dealing with several schemes, with different rates, bases, cycles and registration rules. Each one needs its own owner inside the business.