iscoverNational Disability Insurance Scheme savings could be boosted with an offered tax concession for live-in supporters, new research has revealed.
Live-in tax break could unlock major NDIS boost, KPMG says
28 August 2025
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8 minute read
A tax concession for live-in supporters could make individual living arrangements (ILA) more accessible and attractive, therefore leading to National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) savings.
New research from KPMG Australia and the Summer Foundation has revealed ILAs are a cost-effective form of support for people with disability and could save the government $260 million over five years if 500 more people chose the ILA option.
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KPMG said an ILA was “a contemporary model of disability support whereby a person with disability lived with a live-in supporter who can receive a payment or stipend” and was currently not leveraged enough in Australia.
KPMG’s latest ‘Tax concessions for live-in supporters‘ report highlighted recommendations on incentivising ILAs through Australia’s tax and transfer system.
The professional services firm made clear in its report that it believed the growth of ILAs should be supported as the cost of NDIS continued to escalate and widespread acknowledgement from government and stakeholders recognised NDIS needed to be more sustainable.
Alia Lum, KPMG head of tax policy and report author, said Australia should follow in the footsteps of its global counterparts to make critical progress in the area.
“ILAs are proven to be extremely successful in the UK and Canada, providing a huge benefit to the community. There is also good research to show they are very cost-effective,” she said.
“We recommend that Australia align with the approach taken in countries like the UK, where specific tax relief is provided for live-in supporters, to make this type of support more readily accessible and attractive. We are at a critical juncture, where the cost of the NDIS continues to escalate, so one way of making the NDIS more sustainable is to scale up the use of ILAs.”
According to the report, Australia underutilised ILAs, which wasn’t helped bythe uncertainty of tax consequences for live-in supporters and complexities around determining their tax deduction claims.
For example, Australia had only 520 NDIS participants living in ILAs supported by NDIS providers, while the UK had more than 10,000 living in these types of arrangements.
KPMG and Summer House, an NFP focused on better housing and support for disability, called on the government to utilise this option, as there were more than 40,000 Australians with disability who had high support needs.
Lum said the blending of the live-in supporters’ activities and home environment, combined with the fact that supporters needed to keep and maintain detailed records to substantiate tax deduction claims, meant that navigating existing tax rules was challenging.
“A concession should be provided to simplify things, along the lines of the successful UK approach. Where a live-in supporter’s income from an ILA is equal to or less than the fixed relief amount, no tax would be payable,” she said.
“Where the live-in supporter’s income from the ILA exceeds the fixed relief amount, the difference would be treated as taxable income. The concession would only be available to specified ‘qualifying’ live-in supporters.”
“This would remove the compliance burden placed on live-in supporters, relieving them from the complexity of determining their tax-deductible expenses, including partial tax deductions, and allowing live-in supporters to keep much simpler records.”
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