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Ruling

Subject: Income - grants

Question:

Are you required to include the grant in your assessable income?

Answer:

No.

This ruling applies for the following period:

Year ended 30 June 2012

The scheme commenced on:

1 July 2011

Relevant facts and circumstances

You received a one off payment in the form of a grant from a government authority.

The payment was made to you to assist with the purchase of a property.

Relevant legislative provisions

Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 6-5

Reasons for decision

Subsection 6-5(2) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) provides that the assessable income of a resident taxpayer includes ordinary income derived directly or indirectly from all sources during the income year.

Ordinary income is income according to ordinary concepts and is generally considered to include:

· amounts received in return for personal services, whether received in the capacity of an employee or otherwise; and

· amounts received periodically or regularly and which the recipient relies on for the maintenance of themselves and /or their dependants (Federal Commissioner of Taxation v. Dixon (1952) 86 CLR 541).

You received a grant from a government authority. The primary purpose of the grant is to provide financial assistance to people purchasing or building a new home.

The grant was not paid because of employment, services rendered, investment or the operation of a business. The grant was received as a one off lump sum payment and the motive of the body making the payment is to provide assistance for the purchase of a new home, not to help the recipients or their dependants pay for their regular living expenses.

The grant is not income according to ordinary concepts and therefore is not ordinary income. Accordingly, the grant will not form part of your assessable income under section 6-5 of the ITAA 1997.

Further issues for you to consider - capital gains tax

An amount paid in respect of acquiring a capital gains tax (CGT) asset, such as a property, forms part of the first element of the cost base of that CGT asset.

Subsection 110-45(3) of the ITAA 1997 provides that expenditure does not form part of any element of the cost base to the extent of any amount you have received as recoupment of it, except so far as the amount is included in your assessable income.

Recoupment is defined in section 20-25 of the ITAA 1997 to include a grant in respect of a loss or outgoing.

The grant you received is considered to be in respect of the outgoing incurred to purchase a new home and is thus, to the extent of the amount of the grant, a recoupment of that expenditure for the purposes of subsection 110-45(3) of the ITAA 1997.

As the grant is not ordinary income (as discussed above) it is not included in your assessable income.

Therefore, expenditure to purchase the home does not form part of any element of the cost base of the property to the extent of the amount of the grant.