› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Finance, budgeting and loans › Are we paying too much GST on strata levies? › Current Page
Yes, the old system of collective water payement proportioned by unit entitlements is grossly unfair. Some units have only 1 or 2 occupants while others have 4 or 5, but they’re paying the same amount for water, year after year. Unfortunately my building is not new enough to come under the new system.
The way I understand it is, the OC buys water in bulk from Sydney Water, and then on-sells it to individual owners. The “supply” they’re “selling” to owners is still water, which is GST-free, so it doesn’t matter anyway from whom we’re buying water.
And yes, it’s quite possible that my OC has more GST in than out, but I had a look at the budget and found quite a few amounts that look GST-inclusive (eg $550). And the OC added 10% to the entire budget, not just part of it. Not only are they charging GST for GST-free supplies like water, they’re also double-charging GST on other amounts like electricity.
The bad news is, the OC played a few dirty tricks in the AGM process and got the wrongly-calculated levy passed (by a minority of 12 owners out 90). Is there some way I can still challenge that levy through the NCAT?