Work out your rent

If you’re living in social housing in a remote Indigenous community, follow the below steps to work out the amount of rent you should pay.

For any assistance with calculating this amount, contact your nearest Housing Service Centre.

1. Your household’s assessable income

   This step is for all tenants and their spouses, and all other householders 25 years of age and over.

   (a). Add together all after-tax earned incomes per year (see tax allowance table below). To work out an after-tax income, deduct the tax allowance amount from the gross income.

   (b). Add together any Centrelink payments each person gets (like the Newstart Allowance or Parenting Payment). Do not include Family Tax Benefit payments, maintenance payments, or the GST compensation amount in any payments received from Centrelink.

Add (a) + (b) together. Multiply this amount by 25%. Write the amount down (Total 1).

2. Family Tax Benefit Part A / maintenance payments

(c). Add together any Family Tax Benefit Part A payments and maintenance payments being received by each householder.

Multiply (c) by 15%. Write down this amount (Total 2).

3. For all householders under 25 years of age

Note: don’t do this step for people under 25 (who are tenants) and their spouses.

(d). Add together all after-tax earned incomes (see tax allowance table below). To work out an after-tax income, deduct the tax allowance amount from the gross income.

(e). Add together any Centrelink payments each person gets (like the Newstart Allowance or Parenting Payment). Do not include Family Tax Benefit payments, maintenance payments, or the GST compensation amount in any payments received from Centrelink.

Add (d) + (e) together. Multiply this amount by 10%. Write this amount down (Total 3).

4. Add Total 1, 2 and 3 together

This amount is your approximate rent, unless the maximum rent is lower.

Tax allowance table

The information below shows the tax rate depending on the amount of earned income.

These rates used in your rent assessment are the same as the taxation rates of the Australian Government.

• $0 to $6,000: 0%
• $6,001 to $34,000: 15%
• $34,001 to $80,000: 30%
• $80,001 to $180,000: 37%
• $180,001 or more: 45%

More information

For more information on how rent is worked out, contact your nearest Housing Service Centre.