Proof of income and assets for public housing
When you apply for public housing or the rental rebate, you need to prove your income and assets.
Housing ACT will use the documents you give them to assess your application.
If you cannot give us documents to prove your income or assets, contact Housing ACT.
Your household income
Your household income means payments and benefits that your household gets.
Your household includes you and other people aged 16 and over who live in your house.
You must give us documents to prove your household income for the past 3 to 6 months. You only need to give us documents to prove the income we assess.
Income we assess
Income sources we include as part of your total income:
- wages (including overtime and allowances)
- Centrelink benefits
- pensions
- overseas pensions
- superannuation
- child maintenance
- most Veteran’s Affairs benefits
- compensation for loss of income
- bonuses and commission
- interest or other investment returns
- income from assets such as investment properties
- self-employment income from all sources
- any other income paid to you and all other household members.
Income we do not include
We don’t include some types of income when we assess your application. These are:
- Child Care Subsidy
- Carer Allowance or bonus
- Foster child allowances
- Child maintenance payments you make
- Pharmaceutical Allowance
- payments for loss or damage to property or for personal injury (except for compensation for loss of income)
- some one-off or lump-sum payments, including payments made under the National Redress Scheme
- National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) support packages and any return on your NDIS amounts that you earn, derive or receive
- financial assistance, recognition or payments to victims of terrorist attacks or victims of crime
- COVID-19 one-off payments, income supplementation including the COVID-19 Supplement, concessions, rebates and early withdrawals of superannuation.
If Centrelink is your only income
You can give us permission to ask Centrelink to tell us your income. This is called a statement of income.
- Download, fill in and sign the Centrelink statement of income form [PDF 251kB].
- Return it to Housing ACT with your application.
You can read more about this in the Income Confirmation Service .
If you're self-employed
You cannot deduct the following business costs to reduce your total income:
- any salaries or wages, director’s fees or drawings from the business or equity paid to any member of your household
- rent paid to Housing ACT for a public housing tenancy (if you’re applying for the rental rebate)
- rent paid to a community housing organisation for a community housing tenancy
- donations and gifts, including gifts to other household or family members
- depreciation or any other capital allowances
- negative gearing costs.
If you earn income as a sole trader or from a partnership
You must give us all the following:
- your latest individual tax return and assessment by the Australian Taxation Office
- a detailed profit and loss statement
- a balance sheet.
If you earn income from a partnership
You may need to give us your latest partnership tax return.
If you earn income from a company
You may need to show your company tax return if you earn income:
- as director
- as owner
- as part owner
- from owning shares in the company.
Certifying your documents
You must get all documents endorsed by a certified/registered accountant.
If your income is less than the Centrelink benefit
If you can get Newstart Allowance but do not apply for it, we will assess your income as if you were receiving that benefit.
When you apply for the rental rebate
You’ll reapply for your rental rebate at the same time of year as you lodge your tax return. We will use the income in your tax return and assessment to calculate your rental rebate.
Proof of assets
You must prove your household does not have assets worth more than $40,000.
Bank accounts
We may ask you to show us 6 months of bank statements to show us how much you earn.
You cannot use:
- receipts from automatic tellers
- internet bank receipts.
You must give us a copy of the notice of bankruptcy.
Your application must include details on:
- pending settlement expectations
- any outstanding mortgages
- property market value
- whether the property is being repossessed
- any expected equity from the sale.
Contact us
Call
1800 950 255