First Home Owner Grant - False Claims and Penalties

RevenueSA conducts investigations to ensure the FHOG is paid only to eligible applicants. These investigations include cross checking, data matching and verifying information with extensive third party data from multiple sources within state, territory and federal government and private enterprise.

When considering the amount of penalty to apply in each case, the Commissioner of State Taxation (the “Commissioner”) takes into account all relevant circumstances of the case as well as the level of honesty and co-operation of the applicant(s) and/or their agents or representatives when contacted by RevenueSA.

The Commissioner will impose administrative penalties in accordance with the below penalty table.

Penalty Table

	Voluntary, sufficient, written disclosure prior to contact.	*Immediate, sufficient, written disclosure on contact.**	Timely, sufficient, written disclosure during investigation.	Withholding or providing insufficient information during investigation; Non-disclosure/ response.	Providing a false document; Providing false or misleading statements.
Reasonable care taken Genuine, reasonable belief of compliance with the grant.	0%	0%	10%	25%	100%
Negligence or carelessness Failing to contact the Commissioner in writing within the required timeframe; Genuine but unreasonable belief of compliance.	0%	10%	25%	50%	100%
Intentional disregard and/or inaccurate application No intention of compliance with the grant; Providing inaccurate, misleading and/or false information when applying for the grant. (includes non-disclosure of: spouse/ domestic partner or prior relevant interest)	15%	25%	50%	75%	100%

Terms

* Immediate is taken to mean the first response to RevenueSA after the commencement of an investigation provided it is received within the requested time period.

When determining reasonable care the Commissioner will consider whether a ‘reasonable person or persons’ would have acted in the same manner.

When determining negligence or carelessness the Commissioner will consider the level of care a ‘reasonable person or persons’ would have taken in the same circumstances.

When determining intentional disregard the Commissioner will consider how a 'reasonable person or persons' would objectively view the intentions of the applicant(s), inferred by facts and the applicant's actions.

The Commissioner may commence legal proceedings/prosecutions in cases where an applicant or applicants provide fraudulent or misleading information. Penalties for successful prosecution may result in a maximum custodial penalty of two years, a maximum fine of $20 000 and a criminal conviction.

There are substantial penalties for dishonestly providing incorrect or misleading information in connection with an application for the first home owner benefits. RevenueSA conducts investigations and compliance checks to ensure FHOG and additional scheme (i.e. First Home Bonus Grant, First Home Owners Boost and Housing Construction Grant) benefits are only provided to applicants entitled to receive them.

The above penalty policy was adopted by RevenueSA on 30 March 2012. Our previous policy in relation to FHOG penalties is available here.

This page was last reviewed 21 November, 2012