Over 60s Home Bonus Scheme : Australian Capital Territory Office ACT Revenue

Name of the Organization : ACT Revenue Office
Type of Facility : Over 60s Home Bonus Scheme
Country : Australia

Website : https://www.revenue.act.gov.au/

Over 60s Home Bonus Scheme:

Announced as part of the 2014-15 Budget, the Over 60s Home Bonus Scheme (Home Bonus Scheme) is to assist eligible non-pensioners, who may find the duty involved in a move to be a significant impediment, move to accommodation more suited to their needs (e.g. from a house to a townhouse).

Related : Australian Capital Territory Office First Home Owner Grant : www.statusin.org/7010.html

The Home Bonus Scheme is available to all people aged 60 years and over. The Home Bonus Scheme will run for period of two years (2014-15 and 2015-16).

Eligible applicants are assisted to purchase a residential home or residential vacant land by being permitted to pay duty at a concessional rate.

The Home Bonus Scheme applies to property where the transaction date, which is the date of grant, transfer, or agreement for transfer (whichever is first) occurs between 4 June 2014 and 31 December 2014. This is the date of first execution of an agreement or transfer, not the settlement date.

A successful application under this scheme must comply with the following criteria:
** the Home Bonus Scheme application must be lodged within the required time;
** applicants must satisfy a current and previous property ownership test;
** the total value of the property must be less than the upper property value threshold amount; and
** applicants must satisfy residency requirements.

Limited time to lodge an application:
The application period is limited. All applications must be received by the Commissioner for ACT Revenue at the ACT Revenue Office by the date the duty must be paid, that is within:
** 90 days of the grant, transfer or agreement (whichever is first); or
** 14 days of the occurrence of one of the events mentioned in Section 16A (1) of the Duties Act 1999, for an Off the Plan agreement.

To enable applications to be processed efficiently, all documents must be lodged with the Commissioner for ACT Revenue at the ACT Revenue Office at least 10 working days before approval is required. Incomplete applications may be returned without processing. All applications accepted over the counter or mailed are subject to the same application time limits.

A late return (application) will only be considered if an applicant can show that it was unduly onerous to lodge it within the statutory or required application period. The Commissioner’s discretion will only be exercised where the applicant can provide sufficient documentary evidence of the delay, and the applicant and the property are otherwise eligible for the scheme.

Information on circumstances that may be considered to be unduly onerous by the Commissioner for ACT Revenue, and those that will not be considered unduly onerous are detailed in Circular DAA012.2 [RTF, 209Kb], [PDF, 689Kb].

Application processing time:

The current standard for processing applications is 10 working days from the provision of all required documentation. If you lodge an application, please wait 10 working days before checking on the status of your application.

Eligible applicant:
At the date of the transaction, an eligible applicant is a person who is aged 60 years and over. The concession will be available where at least one owner of the existing property being sold is aged 60 and over.

To be eligible for the Home Bonus Scheme, ownership of the property being purchased must be in the same name or names as the property being sold. An applicant is also limited to receiving the Home Bonus Scheme no more than once. If any applicant has received this concession previously he or she cannot receive it again.

An applicant for the Home Bonus Scheme cannot have previously received the Pensioner Duty Concession, nor can they receive both the Home Bonus Scheme and the Pensioner Duty Concession.