Proposed law change
The Australian Government has proposed law changeExternal Link to the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Regulations 2019 that would retrospectively impact the GST treatment of some residential care services for which a higher everyday living feeExternal Link (HELF) is charged. To provide you with greater certainty while we await the outcome of the proposed law change, we're taking a transitional compliance approach for HELF.
Our transitional compliance approach
Our transitional compliance approach means we will not apply compliance resources to review your GST treatment of services you supply where:
- they're listed in Tables 1 to 3 of GST-free residential care services, and
- HELF is charged for the service.
This approach applies from 1 November 2025 (when HELF was introduced under the Aged Care Act 2024) until the proposed law change takes effect. We'll review our approach on an annual basis and will communicate any change for the upcoming financial year by 30 June.
We'll apply our view of current law if you ask us to:
- issue or amend assessments
- provide our view (for example, in a private ruling) on whether your services are subject to GST.
When the approach doesn't apply
Our compliance approach does not apply where HELF is charged to services that are not covered by Tables 1 to 3 of GST-free residential care services (for example, an alcoholic beverage service). Services that are not covered in these tables do not satisfy the requirements to be GST-free.
This approach does not apply where:
- there is evidence of avoidance, fraud or evasion
- you otherwise take inappropriate advantage of the compliance approach.
If you identify an error in how you have reported GST on these services, you can make a voluntary disclosure.