Income specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

How to tell us your income

If your Centrelink account is linked to myGov you can tell us about changes to your income online. To do this select Income and assets, then Manage income and assets and Continue.

Once you’ve done this, you’ll need to choose the type of income you want to change. You can change as many income types as you need.

If you don’t have a myGov account or a Centrelink online account you’ll need to create them.

If you need to tell us about any changes to your or your partner’s income, you can also call us on your regular payment line.

What is income

Income is when you or your partner get money for any of the following:

work
cultural work or services
regular payments
profits from a business, which is the money left over after you take out costs to run the business
any money from outside Australia.

Income can also be special types of income. This includes any of the following:

gate takings
Indigenous land use agreements
Native Title claim payments
royalties and sitting fees
sales of arts and crafts.

Find out more about special types of income.

If you get money for cultural work or services

We count money from cultural work as employment income. This includes any of the following:

cultural training
interpretation
site clearances
heritage surveys or monitoring
consultancy fees.

We also count opening or performing at events as employment income. This can include any of the following:

a Welcome to Country
dancing
storytelling
playing the didgeridoo.

If you or your partner have your own business, the money you get from this is business income. If we need more information we may ask you for a tax return or profit and loss statement. This shows us:

the gross amount you got
what your costs were.

What special types of income are

There are special types of income that may also count towards your income test.

Gate takings

This is money for selling tickets to:

enter land such as national parks
attend Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sports or cultural events.

If you or your partner get any share of gate takings, we count it as income. Even if you or your partner get this money as a lump sum for gate keepings over a period of time, it counts as income for 12 months from the date you get it.

Indigenous land use agreements

You or your community can negotiate an agreement about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island lands and waters are used.

If you or your partner get this money, this counts as income for 12 months from the date you get it.

If the money is made to the community and used for community purposes, this won’t count as individual income.

Native Title claim payments

If you get money through a Native Title claim, you’ll need to let us know both:

why you got it
what you’re using it for.

This is so we can decide if it’s either income or money you get.

If it’s compensation for the loss of use and enjoyment of your traditional lands, it may not count as income or money you get.

Royalties

If someone pays you or your partner in return for mining on Indigenous land, this is a royalty.

If you get the money, it counts as your income.

If the community gets the money, it:

doesn’t count as income if they use the money for the whole community
counts as income if they share it among people who plan to keep it for themselves.

Some royalties are for not being able to use and enjoy traditional lands anymore. Let us know if this is the case. The money may not count as income.

Sitting fees

These are fees paid to committee members for attending meetings. This fee counts as income or money you get.

Money you get for travel related costs to go to meetings doesn’t count as income. But if you have money left over to keep, the left over money counts as income.

For example, if you get $100 for travel but only spend $60, the extra $40 counts as income.

Sale of arts and crafts

If you or your partner work for yourselves selling arts or crafts, the money you get from sales is business income. If we need more information we may ask you for a tax return or a profit and loss statement. This shows us both:

the gross amount you got
what your costs were to make your arts or crafts.

If you sell arts and crafts as a hobby, we treat this income or money differently. Hobby income is when the activity is only a hobby and you don’t intend to make an income, or get money for it.

If you share this money with your community, let us know.

Find out more about self-employment or partnership income.