The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has partnered with the Basalt to Bay Landcare Network in South West Victoria to produce simple tax facts sheets for all tax-registered primary producers. These fact sheets explain what farmers can claim in tax for undertaking Landcare works, agroforestry, and what to claim to prepare for a fire.
Many rural rate payers are unaware of these tax incentives because finding what was claimable was difficult for a non-tax professional. With more and more businesses doing their own taxation online, there was need for this information to be more accessible, which is why Basalt to Bay championed these fact sheets and got the ATO to write them.
Agriculture goes hand in hand with many aspects of local government roles including: economic growth, jobs, climate change response, disaster recovery, biosecurity, feral animal control, wandering stock, sustainability, biodiversity protection, and tourism.
Supporting landholders to undertake Landcare works reduces the overall risk to council of losses and disasters in all of those sectors, and stimulates long-term resilience in agricultural communities. None of this needs to be drawn from council budgets – it’s already embedded in Federal tax laws.
The fact sheets are free downloadable PDFs from the Basalt to Bay website. They are also available on the ATO website. All councils are encouraged to add these fact sheets to council resources for rural property holders to stimulate practical positive change in land degradation and climate resilience.
Download the fact sheets at this link: http://www.basalttobay.org.au/interest-areas/tax-rebates