ABCDiamond

$900 to all taxpayers earning under $80,000 pa,
or
$600 for all taxpayers earning between $80,000 and $90,000
or
$250 for all taxpayers earning between $90,000 and $100,000.

The Tax Office payments are scheduled to commence on 6th April 2009, and will continue until after June, depending on when people have lodged their tax returns

http://www.britzinoz.com/page.php?177

ABCDiamond

That will be the Pensioners package; providing lump-sum payments of $1,400 to single pensioners and $2,100 to pensioner couples.

That is another one, separate to the ATO and the Centrelink ones that most of us are discussing


It is hard to keep up with the number of Christmas presents being given out, by Mr Rudd at the moment

Burbage

I was referring to the level of debt that many lower income families are in. By far the best thing to do with any spare cash is to pay off some debt.

If you aren't in debt then spend away!

petensue

Fair enough but I have friends that earn a lot more and are in a lot of debt.Though the only debt we have is our mortgage and we should use that money to help reduce it but sod it we are going to spend it!Sue.

Burbage

I'd put it on my mortgage if I got it. But, if your interest on your mortgage is near enough the rent you would pay anyway, you're in good shape.

A quick calculation: If you have a $250,000 loan at 6% and you put your $900 on the loan then you reduce your principal by that amount and reduce the interest over the lifetime of the loan by about $840. In effect $900 bucks becomes $1740. (And it's worth more and more when the rates rise again)

Kooky.

Ah Burby, we just assume we don't qualify for any of these and then we're not disappointed. Look at it this way, if you don't qualify, it means you're earning ok money. (I'm a glass half full kind of girl.)

Re. the mortgage thing - oooh, we met a mortage broker the other evening and I found it hard to believe the figures he worked out for us for an offset mortgage. Do they really work that well? If I by some miracle manage to get a job, could we really pay off 500k in 8 years?

(BTW the amount they'll lend us is silly. We couldn't afford to pay it - and eat - but we can have it if we want it. Mad.)

Burbage

By far the best investment right now is to pay off your mortgage, or get one and pay it off quickly. Need to drive a hard bargain in the housing market though. I'd be trying to find a small house to add to as well. There doesn't appear to be much else worth investing in.

Once you own your house, then you can think about stocks.

Pay no interest. Pay no rent. That is what I'm aiming for.

ozzieeagle

I've had some nasty news about the tax component from my Tax Accountant. I phoned him because I noticed in the paper that if you get a tax agent to do your tax then you have to notify the tax office about your address, which he had already done with all his clients.

He said and I quote "only expect one partner to get one payment" in April, or one lot of 900 bucks per couple.... I dont know why he said this, its not to do with our income, and nothing in the blurb from the government. It's just the way he is expecting it to pan out for some reason. Can someone check this out with their own accountants please.

ABCDiamond

There is nothing on the Tax Professionals section of the ATO website to say that only one payment would be made per family.

teza

To my knowledge it is one payment per tax payer, regardless if they are married, defacto or otherwise.

sunny brummie

Yes, I have checked and it is one payment per taxpayer BUT a word of caution...I thought I was in line for the payment having worked part time and paid tax, but as I got ALL my tax back I infact do not qualify. Confirmed on phone from ATO! My husband will get his as although he got a tax refund it is not for the whole amount of tax he had paid.

spilko

According to the site calculator the only calculation is based on your tax return. It does not take into account how much tax was refunded. This was also stated in the paper.

lacey21

I'm perm part time and my hubby is casual for the past two years. We have lodged and paid tax ever since we have been here.

Hope we get ours.

Lace x

ABCDiamond

Correct, because only people that have a Net tax liability are able to get the payment.


Correct, as long as there was a Net tax Liability showing on the assessment.

It seems that a number of people have thought they would get the payment, thinking they had paid tax, even though they got ALL their tax payments refunded, and ended up not having paid any tax.