When a disaster strikes, as we’ve seen recently, it’s often difficult to navigate avenues for support across different agencies. We’ve put together a guide to summarise what support is available in the aftermath of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, and the eligibility conditions to access that support.
Hardship Assistance from your Bank
Most financial institutions have disaster and recovery support such as short-term loan relief, restructuring support, and waiving fees. See the Australian Bankers Association website for where to get support.
Don’t let debt get on top of you—make contact before repayments become a problem.
Tax on Disaster Payments and Grants
Unless declared otherwise, grants, support payments, and disaster payments will often be assessed as income in your tax return. However, this depends on the nature of the payment and what it relates to. The ATO provides a summary here.
If you have received an insurance payout, in some circumstances this will be taxable, and a capital gain or loss may be triggered when the asset was destroyed. The ATO provides some basic details here.
