Hi, I moved to australia about a year ago to live with my partner and I would like to know whether my partner can claim for any sort of tax rebates for a dependent spouse? He is supporting me whilst I`m looking for work, I am not getting any centerlink payments etc, but I thought that there would be some sort of tax rebates for your unemployed spouse? Would appreciate any thoughts on this.
Thanks.
Tax Rebate for Unemployed Partner/Spouse?
Lgdaisies on 25/05/2015 - 12:53
Comments
Interesting link. Looks like this rebate is under review due to "the 2014–15 Budget announcement, it is recommended that you do not claim this offset."
Assuming it isn't scrapped though, it says if you have a dependent spouse born before 1 July 1952 with an adjusted taxable income (ATI) of less than $10,422, you can claim a dependent spouse tax offset. So it looks like only meant for people older than 63 years old to claim. Is that date linked to the age pension age? Just curious.
It use to be spouse of any age, but the Govt really cut back so it's only applies for older people. I think they were just sick of young people claiming to be dependent spouse when they could be out there working.
Sign up just to ask that?
Really irks me that these people who 'move' here who are not residents and citizens are too lazy to find out themselves via GOOGLE and Human Services .com.au the accurate and exact answers to questions that have SERIOUS implications if you break the law! You were savvy enough to join OzBargain and pose the question but do you realise how many ambiguous (and maybe inaccurate) answers you will get questioning a forum like that? If you took the time to log onto the Human Services webite and search ' dependant spouse rebate', all your answers are there in black and white and there is no fudsing around with 'ifs' and 'buts'. Better still, whilst you're jobless, pick up the phone and speak to Centrelink at 132307 (I found that via googling) - how easy can that be? Sure you may have to wait 45 minutes to speak to an officer, but once you are connected you can ask away 100 questions and they will tell you where your position is at. No more guessing, no more speculation, no more 'I thought this and that'. Are you afraid to speak face to face in case they ask you probing questions and you have to reveal more than you want to? Don't worry, you never have to reveal your name.
Wow, what a condescending response.
There was nothing in the OP's statement that suggested they wanted to rort the system. They just asked whether their partner was entitled to anything. Trust me, these days even when you get through to Centrelink, they tell you the bare minimum, and will not offer information unless you know what to ask.
There is however a sense of entitlement, which is ridiculous. You can't move to a country and expect to get welfare, just because you cook your working partners meals when they get in. It is ridiculous, and I personally would be ashamed if I wrote an OP like this one.
First of all thank you for the helpful comments and info some of you have provided. I came to the same conclusion after going through the tax website. Really appreciate your help and momov3, you're an idiot. Get off the drugs.
'Get off the drugs'.
I would if I were on them….but I'm sure YOU would be able to tell me where to find them.
You know Ozbargain website already and have a partner earn 60K a year. Really, it is enough to start doing so many things. Stop asking Tax benefits etc etc if just unemployed.
I feel like i'm in high school. Name calling and putting someone down. Ouch! What's having an opinion got to do with taking drugs?
Dependant (questions T4 and T5)
A dependant must be an Australian resident for tax purposes. A dependant can be:- your spouse
- a child who is under 21 years old (see above) and is not a student
- a student under 25 years old who is studying full time at school, college or university
an invalid or an invalid carer.
If you want to claim a tax offset for your dependants you may need to work out your and your dependants’ adjusted taxable income (ATI) for the relevant period to determine:
- whether you are eligible for a tax offset, and
- the amount of the tax offset you are entitled to.
Maintaining a dependant (questions T4, T5, T6, M1, M2 and IT8)
You maintained a dependant if any of the following applied:- you and your dependant lived in the same house
- you gave your dependant food, clothing and lodging
- you helped them to pay for their living, medical and educational costs.
If you had a spouse for the whole of 2014–15 and your spouse worked at any time during the year, we still consider you to have maintained your spouse as a dependant for the whole income year.
We consider you to have maintained a dependant even if the two of you were temporarily separated, for example, due to holidays or overseas travel.
If you maintained a dependant for only part of the year, you may need to adjust your claim accordingly.You can also have a play around with the Dependent (invalid and carer) tax offset calculator
The amount you can offset varies according to number of days you were a resident here in the year, the numbers of days your husband supported you and the percentage support you received as a proportion of any other support you recieved (e.g. you may have a brother or sister also "maintaining" you).
I had a play around with the figures and the tax offset you can get could be anywhere between $1000-2500 approx
You have posted the information for 2014, there is no offset available as announced in the 2015 Budget.
megamilinda is right! wooooops, still secretly hoping they don't finalise that piece of legislation though…
I believe it already passed with the $20K instant deduction for Small business.
They've been phasing out the dependant spouse rebate over the past couple of years. To be eligible for it last year, the spouse had to be very close to retirement age.
Don't suppose you know this person?