You can claim a deduction for local government rates and levies for the period your property is rented or is genuinely available for rent.
Where you fail to pay local government rates and charges for the property by the due dates and you become liable to pay interest charges under the relevant state law, you can claim the late interest charges as a tax deduction. It is not excluded by penalty provisions of the tax law. We consider the imposition of interest in these circumstances is not a pecuniary punishment for a breach of the Local Government Act but an administrative charge recognising the time value of money. The use of a time factor in the calculation is designed to compensate the local government for the full amount of rates not having been paid by the due date. The interest payment is accordingly deductible to the taxpayer in the year in which it is incurred.
If the local council in which your rental property is located imposes an annual emergency services levy, you can claim a deduction for that amount. An emergency service levy is a charge imposed by a local council on property owners to meet some of the costs for the provision of emergency services by the Country Fire Authority, the Metropolitan Fire Authority, the Police Force and other agencies. It is calculated based on the value of the land and charged annually. We consider it is an ongoing expense incurred in the course of earning your rental income and is therefore a deductible expense.