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Selling new homes, units or land? Check this before settlement
You built it. You priced it. The contracts are going out. GST on a new home sale is one eleventh of the whole price. The margin scheme cuts that to one eleventh of the margin: the price less what you paid for the land. It only works if you qualify, and if one sentence is in the contract before settlement. Miss it, and the GST bill can grow by one eleventh of what you paid for the land.
A registered tax agent charges $100 an hour to $500 an hour, and a GST opinion on a development takes a lot more than an hour. This calculator does the maths in about three minutes: whether you qualify, every legal way to tax the sale, what the buyer holds back at settlement, and what has to be signed.
A rough guide only. The full calculator checks whether you qualify at all, what the buyer withholds at settlement, and what renting out unsold stock would cost you.
Sound familiar?
The GST rules for a property development are spread across a whole part of the GST Act, four public rulings, a practice statement, and a withholding system in a different Act. None of it was written for the person who actually builds the houses.
Nobody mentioned the margin scheme box, so nobody ticked it. For GST, the sale happens at settlement, not when contracts are swapped. So there is still time, but only until each lot settles. After that, the chance is gone for good on that lot.
It is the sale price less what you paid for the property. The build does not come off. Nor do stamp duty, legal fees or interest. Getting this one wrong is the most expensive mistake in the whole subject.
Then the accountant waits on the contract, and the contract waits on the accountant. Conveyancers cannot give GST advice unless they are registered tax agents, so the question just sits there while settlement gets closer.
Rent on a home is input taxed, which means no GST credits for it. The day a tenant moves into a home you built to sell, part of the GST credits you claimed on the build start going back to the ATO. How much depends on whether it is still genuinely for sale.
Type in the price, what you paid and how you bought it. We apply the published GST law, work out every legal way this sale can be taxed, and put them in order. No appointment, no engagement letter, and no waiting on somebody else's diary.
In about three minutes you will know if the margin scheme looks open to you, and what it is worth on your own figures. It costs nothing.
What one tick box costs
Both bought the same site for $1,320,000. Both spent $2,400,000 building. Both sold for $4,440,000. One of them paid $120,000 more in GST than the other, and the only difference was one clause in the contract.
Both developments are invented and neither developer exists. What is real is everything else: the one eleventh, the margin scheme in Division 75, the written agreement requirement in section 75-5(1A) and the 7% withholding at settlement. Every figure above is what this calculator produces from those inputs, and the worked examples run the same two through the real engine.
Guess, pay an agent, or check it here
| Guess Use the standard contract |
A tax agent A written GST opinion |
GST Margin Scheme This calculator |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| What it costs | Nothing now, one eleventh of the land later |
$100 an hour to $500 an hour | $19 |
| How long it takes | An afternoon of worrying | Days to weeks, against a settlement date | Under 3 minutes |
| Every legal GST option priced | |||
| What the buyer holds back at settlement, checked | |||
| Reads your actual contracts and title | |||
| Run it again for the next stage | A new fee |
The fifth row is the honest one. A tax agent can read the contract you bought under and the title search behind it. No calculator can do that. What this does is put the arithmetic and the right questions in front of you first, so the hour you pay them for goes on the part only they can do.
GST deadlines
Every one of them is set by law, not by a sales calendar. Miss one and the choice is made for you, at a price you did not pick and cannot change back.
Section 75-5(1A). For GST, land is sold when it settles, so a contract already signed without the clause can still be fixed by a variation both sides sign. After settlement it is gone. The buyer withholds - of the price under the margin scheme, against one eleventh without it. What the clause has to say.
Under Division 129, the check happens in the tax period ending 30 June. Any new home rented out since the last one is measured on this date and part of the build credits go back. Then it happens again the next year, for as many as ten years. What letting unsold stock costs.
Section 93-5. You can only claim a GST credit within four years of the due date of the activity statement it first belonged to, and the ATO cannot extend that. On a development that runs three years from first bill to last settlement, the early bills are closer to the limit than most people think. Rule current at -.
There is a fourth date and it is not a deadline: failing to give the purchaser the written notice before settlement is 100 penalty units, which is - at the unit that applies from 1 July 2026.
What you get free, and what the report adds
The free estimate shows you where you stand. The report gives you the exact numbers and puts every GST option in order, on your own figures. Every sum is shown, so you can check it, question it, or hand it straight to your accountant.
See a full sample report, free. It is an invented six townhouse development run all the way through the real engine, with the open half exactly as a customer sees it, and the assistant live on it for two questions.
How the calculator works
If you can read the front page of a contract, you can use this. Simple mode asks six questions. Advanced adds the valuation, the costs that carried no GST, and the build period.
The contract price, what you paid for the land, how you bought it and where the contract is up to. We never ask for your name, your ABN, your tax file number or a bank account. Nothing you would not read out to a conveyancer over the phone.
The exact GST on the whole price, whether the margin scheme looks open to you and which rule decides it, and every legal GST option named with a full explanation of what each one means.
$19 opens the full report: every GST option priced and ranked, what the buyer withholds against what you really owe, the cost of renting any out, and the dated list of what has to be signed. PDF included, ready to send to your accountant.
The margin scheme in Division 75, new residential premises in section 40-75, the adjustments in Division 129, and GST at settlement in Subdivision 14-E of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953.
Nothing is a black box. Every figure in the report carries the arithmetic that produced it and the section or ruling it comes from.
We are not licensed to tell you what to do, and we do not try. Most developers are missing the arithmetic, not an opinion. Eligibility turns on contracts only you hold.
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
Ask Agent, included with the report
Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report: your price, how you acquired the land, your chain of title, your figures. Ask it anything about them in plain English. It is not a search box or a help page. It knows what your report says because it has been given it.
An example of the kind of answer it gives, on the sample report's figures.
Price of the full report
One payment. No expiry, nothing to renew, and we never keep your card. It opens the whole report and lets you redo the sums for every stage and every lot, as often as you like.
Prices in Australian dollars. Paid securely through PayPal, by card or PayPal balance, no account needed. See a sample report before you decide.
GST margin scheme FAQ
If the sale is taxable, GST is one eleventh of the price. That is - on a sale at the Australian mean dwelling price of -. If you are eligible for the margin scheme and the contract says so in writing, GST is one eleventh of the margin instead. The margin is the price less what you paid for the property. Development costs, stamp duty and legal fees do not come off it.
The GST margin scheme is a way to work out GST on a property sale using the margin instead of the whole price. The margin is the sale price less what you paid for the property, and GST is one eleventh of that margin. It is not automatic. You must be eligible, and you and the buyer must agree to it in writing on or before settlement.
Take the sale price, subtract what you paid for the property, and divide the result by eleven. On a $900,000 sale of land bought for $500,000, the margin is $400,000 and the GST is $36,364. Without the margin scheme, GST on the whole price would be $81,818. The build cost does not come off the margin. It gives you GST credits instead.
You can use it if you are registered for GST, the sale is taxable, you and the buyer agree in writing on or before settlement, and you did not buy the whole property through a sale that was ineligible for the margin scheme. The most common reason people miss out is buying the property as a fully taxable sale, with GST worked out the ordinary way. Since 9 December 2008, buying as a GST-free going concern, as GST-free farmland, or from an associate for nothing also rules you out if that seller was ineligible.
Yes, as long as the sale has not settled. For GST, a sale of land happens at settlement, not when contracts are exchanged. So a contract already signed without the margin scheme clause can still be fixed by a variation that you and the buyer both sign before settlement. Once it settles, the chance is gone on that lot, and each lot closes separately.
The sale is taxed on the whole price instead of the margin. The agreement has to be made in writing on or before the day of the supply, which is settlement. The Commissioner can extend the time to put an agreement in writing, but has no power to apply the margin scheme where the two sides never agreed that it applied. On a development, the difference is usually everything you paid for the land, divided by eleven.
The buyer holds back one eleventh of the contract price, or 7% if the margin scheme applies, and pays it straight to the ATO. This applies to a taxable sale of new residential premises or potential residential land. You must tell the buyer in writing before settlement. Failing to do so carries a penalty of 100 penalty units, which is $36,400. You get the withheld amount back as a credit when you lodge the activity statement for that period.
No. When a property is sold under the margin scheme, the buyer cannot claim a GST credit on the price. For a home buyer that makes no difference. For a buyer registered for GST and buying for a business, it does, which gives them a reason to say nothing and let the margin scheme clause stay blank. That is why checking the contract yourself matters.
Yes, when a registered developer sells it. Subdivided lots are potential residential land, which means land you may build a home on with nothing on it used for a commercial purpose. The sale is taxable, the margin scheme applies on the same terms as a finished home, and the buyer withholds at settlement. The one exception is a registered business buying the land for a creditable purpose.
No, and this is the most expensive misunderstanding in the subject. Section 75-14 keeps development costs, construction, stamp duty, legal fees, options, council contributions and interest out of the purchase figure entirely. The margin is the sale price less what you paid for the property. What the build does instead is give you GST credits at one eleventh of what you spent. That is worth the same money by a different route, which is why the law will not let you have both.
You pay back part of the GST credits you claimed on the build. Rent on a home is input taxed, so renting is not a creditable purpose. Under Division 129 you have an increasing adjustment at the next adjustment period ending 30 June. Keeping the property genuinely on the market while it is tenanted reduces the adjustment, and taking it off the market increases it. Rent it for five years straight with no marketing at all and the sale stops being taxable, and every credit is repaid.
You can use either what you paid, or an approved valuation of the property as at 1 July 2000 (or the day you registered for GST, if that was later). On land held since the 1990s the valuation is usually far higher than the price paid, so the margin, and the GST on it, is far smaller. A real estate agent's appraisal does not count as an approved valuation.
Because the maths is the part most developers are missing, and maths scales. GST advice and compliance is billed at $100 an hour to $500 an hour in Australia, and a written GST opinion on a development is not a one hour job. This service is not licensed to give you a recommendation and does not attempt one. Read it first, not instead, and take it to them with your questions already framed.
You cannot add it afterwards. You cannot object to it. The Commissioner has no power to apply it where you and the buyer never agreed. Almost every other decision on a development can be changed later. This one closes the day each lot settles, one lot at a time. Three free minutes now could be the cheapest part of the whole project.
No card. No sign up. Your answer on the next screen.
You already know the sale price and what you paid for the land. That is all it takes to see what GST will cost you on this sale.
Most GST calculators just divide by eleven. This one checks whether you are allowed to use the margin scheme at all, then prices every legal way to tax the sale side by side, so you can see what the wrong one costs before you sign.
GST law as at -.
Your free GST estimate
The difference between your options, on your own numbers.
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And you can ask it questions. Your report comes with an assistant that has read it and explains any figure in plain English, if you want it. It is given the amounts on your report, never your name or your email, and the conversation stays in your browser.
One email with the figure on this page in it, and a link straight back to this result so you do not have to type any of it again. Useful when the answer has to go past a partner, an accountant or a conveyancer before anybody decides anything.
Your estimate now, then three short follow-ups over the next week, and we stop. Unsubscribe in one click. We never sell your address.
Before you sign, or before you settle
GST on a new home sale is one eleventh of the whole price. The margin scheme cuts it to one eleventh of the margin. But only if you qualify, and only if it is agreed in writing before settlement. The full report prices every lawful option on your own figures, so you know exactly where you stand before the date passes.
Yes, it is included, and using it is entirely your choice. It sits behind one button on your report and does nothing until you press it. Nothing in the report is held back from somebody who never opens it.
When you do ask it something, what it receives is the figures on your report: amounts and categories. Not your name, not your email address, not your account, and never a tax file number, an ABN or a bank detail. We do not hold those in the first place. The name you can put on the report cover is optional and is not part of what it is given. The conversation stays in your browser tab and is gone when you close it, and we record that a question was asked without recording what it said.
Section 5 of the privacy policy sets out exactly what does and does not travel, including who processes it.
No. You pay once and the access is yours. There is no subscription and nothing renews. PayPal handles the payment, so we never even see your card number.
Then the report shows which paragraph of section 75-5 closes it, what it would have been worth, and whether any route is left: an amalgamated title, a going concern sale, or a request to the Commissioner for more time. Far better to know that before settlement than after. And if the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
GST Margin Scheme provides information, not financial product advice. We are not licensed to give personal financial advice and we never tell you which option to pick. What we do is apply the published rules to the figures you enter and show you what they produce, with every working visible. Your real position is set by the Australian Taxation Office, on the GST you self-assess on your own activity statement, and by the contracts you signed: both the one you bought under and the one you are selling under. Where it is unclear how the property was first bought, you can ask the ATO for a private ruling, which binds the Commissioner.
Pay once and the full report opens on this screen, with every lawful treatment of your sale priced and ranked.
Any email you like can be your login, or use your PayPal one.
Property GST examples
Six developers losing money for no reason and five whose paperwork is already right. Every figure on this page is worked out by the same engine that builds a paying customer's report, on the GST law as it stands, at the moment you load the page. The developments are examples. The arithmetic is real, and none of it is typed into the page.
The contract price already includes the tax, so you divide by eleven rather than multiply by a tenth. On a $1,100,000 sale that is $100,000 rather than $110,000. Get it the wrong way round and you overstate the bill by a tenth, every single time.
And nothing else. Not the build, not the stamp duty, not the legals, not the interest, not the agent. So the margin scheme is worth exactly one eleventh of what the site cost you, whatever you end up selling for.
Both parties, in writing, on or before the day of the supply. For land, that is settlement rather than exchange. After that the Commissioner can extend the time to document an agreement but cannot create one, so a contract that never mentioned it is a contract taxed on the whole price.
Everything below is those three facts in real dollars, for eleven different developments. Worked out on the GST law as at current.
Your own figure depends on four things and none of them is on this page: what you paid for the site, how you acquired it, what the contract says, and whether anything has been let. Three minutes and you will have it.
Prepared for Marsden Street, Stage 2
Every lawful way to tax this sale, and what each one leaves out of the same $4,440,000. Same property, same buyers, same settlement day. The only difference is how the sale is taxed and what has to be signed before it settles. Open Show Details on any option. Those panels are live on this page.
Three numbers. The rest of the report explains where they come from.
The contract already says the margin scheme applies. Section 75-5(1A) is satisfied. Keep the signed copy: it is the only proof that the agreement was made on or before settlement.
Nothing about how this property was bought rules out the margin scheme. It was bought from a seller who was not registered for GST, on or after 9 December 2008. The next section sets out each test.
Five tests, and you have to pass all of them. Four are facts that are already fixed. The fifth is a clause in the contract, and it is the only one you can still change.
| Passes | The test | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Registered for GST, or required to be | Section 9-5. Without registration there is no taxable supply and no GST. And registration is compulsory once GST turnover reaches $75,000. |
| Yes | The sale is made in the course of an enterprise | Section 9-5. A subdivision or a build undertaken to make a profit is an enterprise even where it is the only one you ever do. |
| Yes | The property is new residential premises or potential residential land | Section 40-75(1)(a). Premises that have not previously been sold as residential premises and have not been the subject of a long-term lease. |
| Yes | You did not acquire the whole property through an ineligible supply | Section 75-5(2) and (3). It was bought from a seller who was not registered for GST, on or after 9 December 2008, which is not one of the acquisitions that closes the scheme. |
| Yes | You and the buyer agreed in writing, on or before settlement | Section 75-5(1A). The supply of land is made at settlement, not at exchange. The contract already says the margin scheme applies. |
If you are not sure, you can ask the ATO in writing. Where it is genuinely unclear how the property was bought, the ATO can give a private ruling on your own facts, and it binds them. It is the only way to be certain before settlement.
The margin is the sale price less what was paid for the property. That is the whole rule, and the list of things that do not come off it is longer than most people expect.
What the margin is measured from. The property was acquired on or after 1 July 2000 in an ordinary purchase, so the margin is worked out against what was paid for it. There is no valuation option, and no valuation is needed.
What does not come off the margin. The law (section 75-14) is clear, and this is the most expensive mistake people make. None of these reduces the margin by a dollar:
Instead, most of them give you GST credits, which are covered in the credits section below. On these figures, $2,400,000 of building costs gives $218,182 of credits. Taking the same costs off the margin would have saved exactly the same $218,182, which is why the law does not let you do both.
Ranked on one thing only: what is left of the $4,440,000 after GST and after any credits paid back. The top row leaves the most.
| # | Option | GST | Credits paid back | What is left | Less than the top option |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keep it listed for sale while it is tenanted | $283,636 | $2,395 | $4,153,969 | - |
| 2 | Margin scheme, on what you paid for the property | $283,636 | $22,814 | $4,133,550 | −$20,419 |
| 3 | Pay GST on the whole price | $403,636 | $22,814 | $4,013,550 | −$140,419 |
Since 1 July 2018 the buyer pays part of the price straight to the ATO and the rest to you. It is not the GST, it is rarely the same number, and it happens on settlement day whether or not anybody told your lender.
The amount held back is not the GST. On a margin scheme sale the buyer holds back 7% of the contract price and pays it to the ATO at settlement. You get every dollar of it back as a credit when you lodge, so it affects cash flow, not tax. But on a $4,440,000 settlement it is $310,800 that does not reach your account on the day. If your lender is not told, settlement can fall over.
Why 7% and not one eleventh. Under the margin scheme the buyer cannot know what was paid, so the law uses a flat 7% of the price instead. It only matches the real GST when the margin is measured from 23% of the sale price. Here it is measured from $1,320,000, which is 29.7%, so the buyer holds back $27,164 more than is owed.
You must give the buyer a written notice, and the penalty is real. Before settlement you must tell the buyer in writing whether they have to hold back GST, how much, and when to pay it (section 14-255). Not giving it can cost up to 100 penalty units: $36,400 at the $364 unit that applies from 1 July 2026.
The margin scheme does not change these, although most people think it does. It stops the buyer claiming back the GST in the price (section 75-20). It does not touch your credits on building, labour, plans, surveying, agent fees or advertising.
| What you spent it on | Spend | GST credit | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction and development | $2,400,000 | $218,182 | Builder, trades, materials, plans, surveying, engineering and council consultants where a tax invoice is held. |
| Agent commission and marketing | $96,000 | $8,727 | Claimable on a taxable sale, including a margin scheme sale. Not claimable to the extent the sale is input taxed. |
| Costs that carried no GST | $78,000 | - | Stamp duty, land tax, council rates, most authority contributions and bank interest. No GST in them, so no credit. And none of them comes off the margin either. |
Total credits on this development: $226,909. Each one is claimed in the activity statement period it belongs to, and lost for good four years after that statement was due. The ATO cannot extend that, and it is the most common way developers lose a large credit.
The one credit the margin scheme does cost you is a credit on the property itself. You only get that if you paid full GST when you bought it, and in that case the margin scheme is not available anyway. You can never have both.
Everything above is real arithmetic on a fictional development. Run yours and this half opens on your own figures.
And you can ask it questions. Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report and explains any figure in it in plain English. Using it is entirely your choice, it does nothing until you press the button, and it is given the amounts on your report and never your name, your email or your account.
That is somebody else's development. Yours takes about three minutes and costs nothing.
The link may have been used already. If you still get emails, contact us and we will stop them.
Property GST guides
Written for the person who actually builds the houses rather than for the person who administers the Act. Plain English, current to the 1 July 2026 GST law, every section and ruling named so you can check it, and the arithmetic worked through rather than described.
Reading is useful. Knowing what this sale is about to cost you in GST is better.
Settlement
Section 14-255 puts one obligation on the seller and it is not optional: before settlement, tell the purchaser in writing whether they have to withhold, how much, and when to pay it. It is required even where nothing is to be withheld, and failing to give it is 100 penalty units - $36,400 at the unit that applies from 1 July 2026.
The supplier - the entity that will report the sale on its activity statement. The notice must be given before settlement of the property, and it can be included in the sale contract or provided as a separate document beforehand.
All law societies except the Northern Territory have revised their standard land contracts to include the notification, so on a standard contract this is usually a matter of completing a section rather than drafting one.
Where the purchaser has a withholding obligation, the notice must state:
Where the purchaser does not have a withholding obligation, the notice must be clear that no withholding is required. That is the half people forget, and it applies to a great many sales: substantially renovated premises, potential residential land sold to a registered business acquiring for a creditable purpose, GST-free sales, and sales of premises that are no longer new.
The amount has to match the treatment you are actually going to use. One eleventh of the price on an ordinary taxable sale; 7% of the price where the margin scheme applies; 10% of the GST-exclusive market value on a below-market sale to an associate.
A notice quoting one eleventh, on a contract that says the margin scheme applies, is a contradiction that the purchaser's conveyancer will find at settlement - and the buyer, relying on the notice, may withhold the larger figure. The clause, the notice and the activity statement all have to say the same thing.
If you get it wrong, give the purchaser an amended notice. That is the ATO's own instruction and it is far better than leaving an incorrect one standing.
A supplier who fails to provide the notice may incur either:
The Commonwealth penalty unit is $364 from 1 July 2026, so 100 units is $36,400. It is indexed every third 1 July under section 4AA of the Crimes Act 1914.
Penalties do not apply where you reasonably believed you were not required to meet the notice requirements, or made an honest and reasonable mistake about how they apply to a particular supply. "Nobody mentioned it" is unlikely to be either.
| Failure | Who | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| No supplier notice | Seller | 100 penalty units - $36,400 |
| Failed to withhold or pay | Buyer | Penalty equal to the amount they should have paid |
| Failed to lodge the two forms | Buyer | One penalty unit per 28 days, up to five |
The purchaser lodges two online forms and pays the withheld amount. The ATO will not penalise a purchaser who reasonably relied on the supplier's notice - but it says plainly that where a buyer knows the supplier is registered and is selling new residential premises not previously sold, it is unreasonable not to withhold.
Practically, a buyer who has not lodged Form one cannot complete the payment cleanly at settlement, and a settlement that does not complete is your problem as much as theirs. Raising it with the purchaser's conveyancer when contracts exchange, rather than the week of settlement, is the whole of the fix. See the two settlement forms.
Conveyancers and real estate agents can help a purchaser complete the forms. They cannot give GST advice unless they are registered tax or BAS agents, and the ATO says so explicitly.
That is why the eligibility question and the amount on the notice tend to sit unanswered in the middle of the table: the conveyancer is not permitted to answer them and the accountant has not been sent the contract. Deciding who owns it, in writing, at the start of the project is worth more than any individual piece of advice.
The ATO receives data from state and territory land titles offices and revenue agencies covering sales and transfers of real property. A settlement with no withholding, no notice and no reported sale is precisely the pattern that data matching is designed to surface.
None of which is a reason for alarm on a properly run project. It is a reason to make the notice part of the contract process rather than something that happens if somebody remembers.
Free: whether your sale is caught. The full report works out the amount for the notice and the dated list of everything else that has to be in writing.
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About us
A property development is a two or three year project in which almost every decision can be revisited. One cannot. GST on the sale of new residential premises is one eleventh of the whole price unless the margin scheme applies, and the margin scheme has to be agreed in writing on or before settlement. On an ordinary suburban development that sentence is worth one eleventh of what the site cost: tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. And it is decided by a tick box on a contract that goes out while everybody involved is thinking about something else. Nobody in the transaction has a duty to mention it.
None of the rules are secret. The margin scheme is Division 75 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999; new residential premises are defined in section 40-75; the adjustment for renting what you built to sell is Division 129; the amount the buyer hands the ATO at settlement is Subdivision 14-E of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953. The Commissioner has published rulings on all of it: GSTR 2006/7, GSTR 2006/8, GSTR 2009/4, GSTR 2003/3 and GSTR 2002/5 among them. What almost nobody outside a tax practice ever does is put those documents next to one set of real figures, because they are written for administrators, they sit across two Acts and half a dozen rulings, and the arithmetic is spread through all of it.
GST Margin Scheme does one thing: it applies those published rules to your figures and shows you, in full, what they produce. Every lawful treatment of the sale priced, every one of them ranked on a single stated measure, the eligibility test worked through paragraph by paragraph, and every working visible so you can check it, argue with it, or hand it to somebody who can.
We do not tell you what to do. We are not licensed to, and frankly the arithmetic is the part people are missing, not the opinion. Eligibility for the margin scheme turns on how every earlier owner acquired the property, and only your own contracts can prove that. A registered tax agent can read them and we cannot; the ATO can give a written ruling on them, and a private ruling binds the Commissioner. Read this first, not instead.
Short version: we hold as little as we can, we never ask for the identifiers that matter most, and the calculation runs on your own device. The long version is below, because you are entitled to it.
This policy explains how XTO Pty. Ltd. (we, us, our) collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information, and how you can access, correct or complain about it. We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
It applies to calculatedchoices.com.au and to every email we send you. It does not apply to any third party site we link to.
We do not ask for, and you should never send us, your Medicare number, tax file number, tax file number, bank account number, or any government identifier, bank account details or card number. The calculator does not need them. If you send one to us anyway we will delete it rather than store it.
We do not collect sensitive information as defined in the Privacy Act - health information, racial or ethnic origin, political or religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or criminal record. Where the calculator asks about care needs it asks about funding categories, never about a medical condition.
Information you give us
Information collected automatically
In your browser, on your device. The figures you type into the calculator are processed locally to produce your result. They are transmitted to us only if you choose to save a scenario to your account. If you never save one, we never receive them.
Two exceptions, and both are things you have to choose to do:
A paid report comes with an optional assistant you can ask questions about your own figures. It is the one part of this site that sends anything to a third party, so it is set out here in full.
It is entirely your choice, and it does nothing until you use it. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you open the assistant and ask a question. If you never open it, this section does not apply to you at all, and the rest of the report works exactly the same.
What is sent when you do ask
What is not sent
What travels is a set of amounts and categories. On its own it does not identify anybody, and we do not send anything alongside it that would.
Who processes it
The request is answered by Google's Gemini API, which processes it outside Australia - see sections 10 and 11. We do not train any model on your figures and we have no arrangement permitting anyone to do so; what Google does with data sent to its API is governed by its own terms, which we do not control.
How long it is kept
Because the assistant is optional, you can have the entire paid report without any of the above ever happening. Nothing in the report is withheld from somebody who never opens it.
We use the following, and nothing else:
You can clear or block these through your browser at any time. Clearing them will sign you out and reset your preferences; the site will otherwise work normally.
We use Google Analytics and Google Ads to measure how people find and use the site and whether our advertising is worth running. Where these are enabled, Google receives your IP address, device and browser information, the pages you viewed, and - when you complete a purchase - the order reference and the amount paid. Google may set its own cookies and may combine this with data it holds from other sources. Google's handling of that data is governed by its own privacy policy, not ours.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not disclose it to data brokers, advertising networks other than as described above, the Australian Taxation Office, a purchaser, a lender or an adviser, or anyone who might try to sell you something.
You can opt out of Google Analytics using Google's browser add-on, and you can adjust personalised advertising in your Google account settings.
Payments are processed by PayPal. Your card or account details are entered on PayPal's systems and are never transmitted to, seen by, or stored on our servers. We receive only the transaction reference, the amount, the status and the email address associated with the payment.
Some of these providers store or process data outside Australia, principally in the United States (Google, PayPal) and, depending on our email provider, in other countries. By using the site you acknowledge that we take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle your information consistently with the APPs, but that we cannot control and are not accountable for how an overseas recipient handles it once disclosed, and that you may not be able to seek redress in that jurisdiction.
The site runs entirely over HTTPS. Passwords are stored as salted PBKDF2 hashes, not as text anyone here can read. Access to the database is restricted to those who need it. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted over the internet, but we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
If you give us your email address for a free estimate we may follow up about the full report. Every commercial email we send identifies us and carries a functional unsubscribe link, as required by the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). We action unsubscribes immediately. You will still receive transactional email - receipts, access details and password resets - because those are not marketing.
Write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au. We will:
We will respond within 30 days and will not charge you for making a request. We may need to verify your identity first.
If you think we have breached the APPs, write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au with "Privacy complaint" in the subject line. We will acknowledge within 5 business days and respond substantively within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992, or GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.
The site is intended for property developers, builders, landowners and their advisers selling new residential premises or subdivided residential land in Australia. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.
We may update this policy. The effective date at the top changes when we do. Where a change is material we will tell you by email or by notice on the site before it takes effect. Continuing to use the site after that means you accept the updated policy.
Privacy Officer
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])
Level 1, 457 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
support@calculatedchoices.com.au
Plain English, because the whole point is that you understand it. Section 6 is the one that matters most - please read it before you rely on anything here.
By using calculatedchoices.com.au (the site) or buying a pass you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the site. In these terms we, us and our mean XTO Pty. Ltd.; you means the person using the site or, where you use it on behalf of another person or an entity, both you and that person or entity.
You must be at least 18 and legally able to enter a contract. The site is intended for use in Australia and applies Australian law and the published Australian GST law, principally Division 75 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 and the ATO rulings that apply it only. If you use it from outside Australia you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for local compliance.
GST Margin Scheme is an information and calculation service. It applies the published Australian GST law, principally Division 75 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 and the ATO rulings that apply it to figures you supply and reports what those rules produce, showing its workings and naming the fee schedule used.
It is not financial product advice, personal advice, legal advice, tax advice, accounting advice or tax advice, and it is not a recommendation to acquire, dispose of or deal in any financial product.
You should obtain independent, licensed advice before acting. Any decision you make is yours.
We take considerable care to keep the rates current and the formulas right, and every report prints the schedule it was built on. Even so:
Always confirm before you act.
You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for evaluating the output, for verifying it against official sources, for obtaining independent professional advice, and for every decision you make or do not make. We are not your adviser and no fiduciary or advisory relationship arises from your use of the site.
You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for everything done under your account. Tell us immediately at support@calculatedchoices.com.au if you suspect unauthorised use. We may suspend or close an account we reasonably believe is being used in breach of these terms.
A report you export as a PDF or otherwise save remains yours to keep and to show to family, an adviser or a registered tax agent. That licence is personal and non‑commercial. It does not permit republication, resale, or use as part of a product or service you provide to others.
Our promise: if the calculator cannot properly model your circumstances, or something has gone wrong, write to us within 14 days of purchase and we will refund the pass. No form and no argument. We would rather refund you than have you rely on a number that does not fit.
This is a voluntary commercial guarantee offered in addition to, and it does not limit, your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. Refunds are made to the original payment method within five business days of us accepting the request.
You must not:
All content, code, calculation methodology, report design, text and branding on the site is owned by us or licensed to us and is protected by copyright and other laws. Legislated rates and government data are not owned by anyone; our expression, arrangement and implementation of them is. Nothing in these terms transfers ownership to you.
We aim to keep the site available but do not guarantee it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error free. We may modify, suspend or discontinue any part of it, and may perform maintenance, at any time. If we permanently discontinue the service while your pass is running, we will refund the unused portion.
The site relies on third party services including PayPal, Google and our hosting and email providers, and links to third party sites and government resources. We are not responsible for those services or sites, their availability, their content or their terms.
Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. For major failures with the service, you are entitled to cancel your service contract with us and to a refund for the unused portion, or to compensation for its reduced value. You are also entitled to be compensated for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. If the failure does not amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have problems with the service rectified in a reasonable time and, if this is not done, to cancel your contract and obtain a refund for the unused portion of the contract.
Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy conferred by the Australian Consumer Law or any other law which cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified. If any part of these terms would do so, that part does not apply.
Subject always to section 15, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:
You agree that this allocation of risk is reasonable given the price of the service and that the service is information rather than advice.
Our liability is reduced to the extent your loss is caused or contributed to by you, including by entering incorrect figures, by failing to verify output against official sources, or by failing to obtain independent advice.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, you indemnify us against any claim, loss, liability, cost or expense (including reasonable legal costs) arising from your breach of these terms, your misuse of the site, or your provision of the site's output to a third party who relies on it. This does not apply to the extent the claim arises from our own breach, negligence or wilful misconduct.
You may stop using the site at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access immediately if you breach these terms. Sections 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 survive termination.
Our Privacy Policy forms part of these terms and explains how we handle personal information.
These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. You and we submit to the non‑exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales and the courts entitled to hear appeals from them.
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])
Level 1, 457 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
support@calculatedchoices.com.au