Last Tuesday was an exciting day……any guesses why? I’m sure you are sitting there yelling at the screen “state budget day!!!” and as such you are absolutely correct. For those who may have missed it, I thought I’d do a brief recap of a few of the announcements.
- Are you a first home buyer or know anyone who is? or will be?or should be? If your answer is yes then please share this information. It could make $7,000 worth of difference. As of October 11 (yes, just a few weeks away) the current $7,000 grant for first home buyers is being removed. It’s being replaced by a $15,000 first home owner construction grant which basically means that you are only eligible if you are purchasing a newly constructed home or an off the plan property. The government is trying to sell this as an increase to the current grant but with the changes, it will significantly reduce the number of first home buyers eligible for the grant.
- We can expect electricity to remain at the current (already expensive!) rate as this has been frozen. Check out my win with the electricity companies here
- There are some bonuses for living in South East Queensland – we can enjoy an $80 water charges rebate and we’ll also have a 50% discount on the proposed public transport fee increases over the next couple of years. Speaking of public transport; for those of you who are commuters; there’s free travel after the first 9 trips on a Monday – Sunday week.
There were lots of other announcements including additional funding to schools, more police officers and hospitals over the coming years. If you are interested in reading more, check out the brief .
On other news, I’m proud (and relieved, probably mostly relieved) that our website has FINALLY been updated. I’ve had the update happening for a very long time and it’s finally up and we’re thrilled with the end result. You can now contact us directly from the site, subscribe to our newsletters and check out everyone’s smiling faces. In addition, there’s a client only section where we will provide extra copies of checklists, templates and specific information just for our clients. Check it out: www.iqaccountants.com.au
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