No more negative gearing for vacant land

Property owners will no longer be able to claim a tax break on vacant land after the Senate backed changes to negative gearing rules.

Legislation passed the upper house on Wednesday, with the negative gearing changes set to raise $50 million over four years.

Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar has previously said the measure would address concerns some people have been improperly claiming deductions.

The government changed the legislation to exempt buildings affected by natural disasters or other exceptional circumstances like Sydney's abandoned apartment towers.

Negative gearing was a hot-button election issue, with Labor promising to wind back rules in a move which would have raised $32 billion over 10 years.

The coalition fiercely opposed changes to negative gearing, but surprised some in the property industry by moving to tighten rules around vacant land after winning the May poll.

The bill also tackled a range of other tax issues including closing a loophole allowing bosses to use salary sacrificing to reduce workers' minimum superannuation guarantee contributions.

The government agreed to support Labor's amendment bringing the start date for that measure forward by six months to the start of next year.

The House of Representatives will give the measures the final approval.