How to work out your rent – Remote Indigenous Communities

Tenants and their families who are living in social housing on remote Indigenous communities will pay either approximately 25% of their total assessable income as rent or the maximum rent for the property, whichever is the lower amount.  
•	Up to the maximum rent for your house
•	25% of assessable income for tenant/s, their spouse and everyone aged 25 and over
•	15% of Family Tax Benefit A
•	10% of assessable income for under 25s

•	If you are under 25 and the tenant or spouse in the property, your income will be assessed at 25%
How to work out your rent
You can use this guide to help you calculate how much rent your will have to pay.  This is an estimate only - Housing staff will tell you how much your rent will be, based on your total household income. 
You can use this guide to work through how your rent is assessed with Housing staff.
Step 1 - for all Tenant/s and their spouses and all other household members aged 25 and over:  
You will need to find out all of the assessable income in the household:
a)	Earned income (wages, casual earning, interest, etc.) is assessed on the after-tax amount. To work out the after tax amount; see the tax allowance table at the bottom of page 2 which will help you to work out this amount.  Deduct the tax allowance amount from the gross earned income.  This is the after-tax amount.
b)	Add together any Centrelink payments each person receives, for example, Newstart allowance, Parenting Payment).  Do not include Family Tax Benefit payments, maintenance payments or the GST compensation amount in any payments received from Centrelink. 
c)	Add the earned income, where you have worked out the after-tax amount (a), and the Centrelink payments amount (b) together. 
d)	Calculate 25% of this total (total amount x by 25%). 
Write this amount down (Total 1).
Total 1	$	
Step 2 - Calculate 15% of Family Tax Benefit Part A payments and any maintenance payments being received by each household member in this group. 
Add any Family Tax Benefit Part A payments any maintenance payments together. 
Calculate 15% of this amount (total payment amount multiplied by 15%).  
Write this amount down (Total 2). 
Total 2	$	
Step 3 - for all household members aged under 25 (except if they are Tenant/s and their spouse):
Find out all of the assessable income: 
a)	Earned income (wages, casual earning, interest, etc.) is assessed on the after-tax amount. To work out the after tax amount, see the tax allowance table at the bottom of page 2 which will help you to work out this amount.  Deduct the tax allowance amount from the gross earned income.  This is the after-tax amount.
b)	Add together any Centrelink payments each person receives including any Family Tax Benefit Part A payments and any maintenance payments received.
c)	Add the after-tax amount (a) and the Centrelink payments amount (b) together. 
d)	Then calculate 10% of this total. Write this amount down (Total 3).

Total 3	$	

Step 4 - Add the Total amounts for Steps 1, 2 and 3 together. 
This amount is your approximate rent. 
If this amount is more than the maximum rent for the property, you will only pay the maximum rent.
Total 	$	
What is the maximum rent I can pay?
The maximum rent you can pay is based on the rent charged for social housing properties with similar access to services and amenities in an Indigenous community. 
The maximum rents for tenants living in social housing dwellings managed by the Department of Housing and Public Works are outlined below.  

Number of bedrooms 	Maximum rent per week	
1	$90	
2	$105	
3	$120	
4	$150	
5	$160	
6	$165	
7	$180	
8	$190	
9	$195	
How to work out your tax allowance
Earned income (wages, casual wages etc.) is assessed on the after-tax amount. The tax allowance used in your rent assessment is the same as the taxation rates of the Australian Government.  The table below shows how much tax allowance is given depending on the amount of earned income: 

Income	Taxation rate	
$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+	45%	
More information 
Please contact talk to Housing staff or your local Council.  Also, refer to theYour rent fact sheets.