Mobile home owners in Wyndham have avoided paying an extra $800 a year in rent, after the tax office backed away from plans to charge them GST.
Under a draft Australian Tax Office ruling released late last year, people living in mobile homes faced having to pay GST on their site rental for the first time.
The ruling was set to overturn a Howard government decision to make mobile homes GST-exempt because they were deemed residential premises. The proposal would have affected about 900 Wyndham residents.
But following a national backlash, the tax office announced it would not adopt the draft ruling.
Tax commissioner Chris Jordan said the ATO had changed its view that mobile homes were not residential premises. “We have carefully considered the legal arguments and practical implications and decided that we don’t need to change the existing GST treatment of these estates,” he said.
Bob Curtis, who lives in Werribee’s Ison Village, welcomed the tax office’s backdown. Mr Curtis said many of the village’s residents would have been unable to afford the 10 per cent increase in their rent.
Residents pay about $160 a week to rent a site for their mobile homes.
Lalor Labor MP Joanne Ryan said the decision was fantastic news, with mortgage stress and tenancy eviction already massive issues in Wyndham.
“This backdown will provide some welcome relief to those living in mobile homes, particularly those on a pension or fixed retirement income,” she said.
