ACT Disability Duty Concession Scheme (DDCS) — Up to $35,238 stamp duty waived

What Is This Payment?

The ACT Disability Duty Concession Scheme is a conveyance-duty (stamp duty) concession for National Disability Insurance Scheme participants buying a home in the Australian Capital Territory. Inside the rule database it is tagged as a monetary primary ACT benefit in the ACT Disability Home Buyer cluster, but it carries eligibility_only result role because the saving is read off the duty scale rather than paid as cash. The entitlement scope is per household and one-off, so the concession applies once to the qualifying purchase.

The administering body is the ACT Revenue Office. The scheme is processed through the office directly rather than through myGov or a bank, because conveyance duty is an ACT territory tax. The buyer or their conveyancer lodges the concession claim against the settlement contract, and the office assesses the NDIS funding-package evidence before adjusting the duty payable at settlement.

The design intent is to lower the entry cost of home ownership for NDIS participants whose disability creates a lifelong need for attendant care, recognising that an accessible home is often more expensive and that duty is a large upfront barrier. The DDCS differs from the companion Severe Disability Duty Exemption in the same cluster: this scheme is a capped concession tied to an NDIS package, while the exemption removes all duty and is tied to a qualifying pension. A buyer chooses the path that matches their evidence — NDIS package versus pension — and the value of each path diverges sharply once the property price climbs.

How Much Can You Get?

The amount type is eligibility_only, so there is no single flat dollar headline. The value is the conveyance duty you avoid, and the rule note defines two bands. A property valued at $1,020,000 or below attracts a full waiver — the duty drops to zero. Above $1,020,000 the concession is capped at a maximum of $35,238, and the buyer pays whatever duty remains after that cap is subtracted.

To audit the saving yourself, work through three steps. First, look up the standard ACT conveyance duty for your contract price on the ACT Revenue Office duty scale. Second, if the price is at or below $1,020,000, the entire duty is waived and your saving equals that scale figure. Third, if the price is above $1,020,000, subtract the $35,238 cap from the standard duty to find the duty you still pay, and your saving is the $35,238 cap.

Two worked points anchor the bands. On an $850,000 ACT home with a standard duty near $25,000, a DDCS buyer pays nothing, so the saving is the full $25,000. On a $1,200,000 home where standard duty might be around $45,000, the concession caps at $35,238, so the buyer still pays roughly $9,762 of duty. The cap is the reason the price band matters: below the threshold the saving rises with the price; above it the saving freezes at $35,238.

No multiplier, no reduces_if, and no date_windows are attached to this rule, so nothing further tapers the figure. The only moving part is the contract price relative to the $1,020,000 threshold, and the concession is applied once per qualifying purchase.

Eligibility Conditions

The eligibility block is an all set, so every item must pass.

1. ACT jurisdiction: state = ACT. The property must be in the Australian Capital Territory and the buyer must be an ACT resident. Conveyance duty is a territory tax, so an interstate purchase is outside this scheme.
2. Principal place of residence: purchasing_principal_residence = true. The buyer must intend to live in the home, not hold it as an investment. Occupancy must start within a year of settlement and continue for at least one year.
3. Disability confirmed: disability_or_illness_confirmed = true. The buyer has a confirmed disability or illness, evidenced through the NDIS pathway.
4. Lifelong attendant-care need: lifelong_need_for_attendant_care = true. The disability creates a lifelong need for attendant care, the marker the scheme uses to confirm an individual NDIS funding package applies.

Required fields for assessment are state, principal-residence intent, confirmed disability, and the lifelong attendant-care need. Together the last two are satisfied by producing the individual NDIS funding package, which is the documentary anchor the ACT Revenue Office checks.

The excludes.any and conflicts lists are empty in the YAML. The real gates that fail most applicants live in the application notes rather than the coded block: the buyer must hold at least a 51 per cent interest in the property, must not have owned any other property in the two years before the transaction, and must satisfy the residency and occupancy rules.

One practical consideration: the 51 per cent ownership rule lets a person with disability buy with a co-owner, such as a family carer, and still claim the concession, provided the participant holds the controlling majority share. A 50-50 split would not meet the 51 per cent floor.

How To Apply

Application metadata defines a single channel: act_revenue_office. The concession is claimed against the settlement contract through the ACT Revenue Office, usually lodged by the buyer's conveyancer or solicitor as part of the settlement paperwork rather than as a separate online form.

Evidence requirements are explicitly listed in the rule and should be prepared before settlement:

• NDIS funding package proof — documentation showing the buyer holds an individual NDIS funding package, the gate that distinguishes the DDCS from the pension-based exemption.
• Settlement contract — the contract of sale showing the contract price, which drives whether the full waiver or the $35,238 cap applies.

Two practical tips help. First, confirm the contract price against the $1,020,000 threshold early, because a price just over the line caps the saving at $35,238 and may make a small price negotiation worth tens of thousands in duty. Second, lodge the NDIS package proof with the conveyancer well before the settlement date, since the office must assess the evidence before adjusting the duty payable at settlement.

Read the official ACT Revenue Office DDCS guidance

Rule-Based Scenarios

Scenario 1: NDIS buyer under the threshold, full waiver

Jedda is an NDIS participant with a lifelong attendant-care need who buys an $830,000 townhouse in Belconnen as her principal residence. She holds a 100 per cent interest and has not owned other property in the past two years. Because the price sits below the $1,020,000 threshold, the DDCS waives the entire conveyance duty, which on her contract is about $24,000. Jedda pays zero duty at settlement and her saving equals the full $24,000, the largest outcome the scheme delivers below the cap band.

Scenario 2: price above the threshold, capped concession

Kirra and her partner buy a $1,180,000 single-storey accessible home so Kirra, an NDIS participant, can manage daily attendant care. Standard duty on the contract is roughly $43,000. Because the price exceeds $1,020,000, the concession is capped at $35,238 rather than waiving the whole amount. Kirra still pays around $7,762 of duty after the cap. The outcome is a partial saving: large, but frozen at $35,238 because the property crossed the full-waiver threshold.

Scenario 3: recent prior owner, blocked

Jarrah has an NDIS package and wants to buy a $740,000 unit in Gungahlin. He sold an investment flat eight months ago. Although he meets the disability and residence tests, the application notes require no other property interest in the two years before the transaction. Because his sale was inside that window, the DDCS path is closed for this purchase. Jarrah pays the full standard duty of about $20,000 and would only become eligible once two clear years have passed since his last ownership.

Common Mistakes

• Reading $35,238 as a flat cash grant: the figure is a maximum concession off the duty scale, not a payment. Below $1,020,000 the saving equals the whole duty bill; above it the saving freezes at the $35,238 cap and the buyer still pays the residual.
• Assuming any disability evidence works: the scheme requires lifelong_need_for_attendant_care = true backed by an individual NDIS funding package. A medical certificate alone does not open the DDCS; the NDIS package is the specific gate.
• Owning property within the two-year window: the application notes bar buyers who held any other property interest in the two years before the transaction. A recent sale or inherited share inside that window disqualifies the purchase even with a valid NDIS package.
• Holding less than a 51 per cent share: the rule requires at least a 51 per cent interest in the home. Buying on an exact 50-50 split with a co-owner falls below the floor and loses the concession.
• Confusing the DDCS with the Severe Disability exemption: the DDCS is capped and NDIS-based; the Severe Disability Duty Exemption removes all duty and is pension-based. Applying for the wrong one with the wrong evidence stalls the assessment.
• Treating it as an investment-property concession: the home must be the principal place of residence with occupancy starting within a year of settlement and continuing at least one year. An investment purchase fails the purchasing_principal_residence = true gate.

Related Rules And Interactions

The conflicts and affects lists in this rule are empty, but the cluster structure and the duty-scale logic connect the DDCS to several other ACT home-buyer and disability concessions. Use these links to navigate the surrounding rules.

• ACT Severe Disability Duty Exemption — the cluster sibling. Key difference: the exemption removes 100 per cent of duty at any property value and is tied to a qualifying pension (DSP, DVA invalidity, or Carer Payment), whereas the DDCS here caps the saving at $35,238 above $1,020,000 and is tied to an NDIS funding package. A buyer with a pension rather than an NDIS package routes to the exemption.
• ACT Pensioner Duty Concession — a separate duty concession for pensioners, an alternative path where the buyer holds a pension card rather than an NDIS package.
• ACT Off-the-Plan Duty Exemption — a duty concession for off-the-plan apartment purchases, relevant if the accessible home is bought before construction completes.
• ACT Land Rent Scheme — discounted 2% rate — a leasehold alternative that lowers ongoing land rent rather than upfront duty, for buyers who cannot meet the deposit on a freehold purchase.
• ACT Taxi Subsidy Scheme — a companion disability transport concession for the same household, often relevant where the disability also limits public-transport use.

Frequently Asked Questions