A land developer named Collingwood Park in 1982. Collingwood Drive is the main road and runs north to Redbank Plaza, and Banjo Paterson Park runs along Goodna Creek on the eastern edge. In the 2021 Census, 91.7% of occupied homes were separate houses.
Families with a mortgage
In 2021 the suburb had 9,246 residents and its median age was 31. Nearly half of all families were couples with children (48.7%, against 41.2% across Queensland). Homes owned with a mortgage made up 46.5%, well above the state's 34.4%, and only 16.4% were owned outright.
The median household earned $1,755 a week, against $1,675 for Queensland. The occupation figures below suggest most of that is wages.
Wage returns and the $300 line
Community and personal service workers were the largest occupation group at 14.5%, just ahead of labourers, clerical staff and tradespeople. Hospitals, supermarkets and child care were among the top industries. Few of those jobs come with an expense account. The deductions tend to be small and scattered: a uniform, union fees, the work share of a phone, a course you paid for yourself.
The ATO lets you claim work-related expenses totalling $300 or less without full receipts, provided you can show you spent the money and how you worked out the amount. Once your total goes over $300, you need written evidence for all of it, not only the part above the line. Car expenses sit outside that limit and have their own record rules.
Keep the evidence for five years from the day you lodge. One folder a year, paper or photos on your phone, does the job. Send what you have with the questionnaire and we'll point out any gaps.
When the first house becomes the rental
Families outgrow houses. A common step is to buy something bigger and rent out the first place, which then becomes an investment property on your return.
Under the ATO's six-year rule, the old house can stay your main residence for capital gains purposes for up to six years of renting after you move out. That can keep part or all of the profit on the sale out of tax. The catch is that the new house can't also be your main residence during those years, apart from an overlap of up to six months while you move. And if you are a foreign resident when you sell, you generally get no main residence exemption at all.
That is general information. Which house to nominate depends on dates and values, so get advice well before you sell.
Owning a rented house
About a third of occupied homes (35.2%) were rented in 2021. The census doesn't say who owns them. If one is yours, the records have a long tail.
The ATO expects you to keep the purchase contract, conveyancing and loan documents, rent statements, receipts for rates, repairs and agent fees, and before and after photos of any capital works. Records that bear on capital gains tax are kept for five years after it is certain no capital gains tax event can happen, which usually means five years after you sell. The purchase papers are the easiest to lose over a long ownership, and they are what the cost base is built from.
Our guide for people who own rental property goes further, as does the article on investment property deductions.
Born across the Tasman
One resident in twelve was born in New Zealand, about twice the Queensland share. Once Australia treats you as a tax resident, a house you kept in Auckland or Christchurch stops being a New Zealand-only matter: the rent belongs on your Australian return as well. Trans-Tasman tax is our specialty, and our Australia–New Zealand service covers how residency is decided and what happens to New Zealand tax you have already paid.
Working with us from Collingwood Park
We work with clients across Brisbane and Ipswich. The Get in touch form is the way to reach us, and from there we'll set a time to meet in person by arrangement or on a video call. Bring documents along, email them, or attach them to the website forms. You'll know the fixed fee before any work begins (how our fees work).
If your 2025–26 return isn't lodged, the deadline for lodging it yourself is 31 October 2026. To fall under a tax agent's later lodgment program, contact the agent before then. Start with the new client form.
Common questions
Write down the date you moved out and the date the house was first rented or advertised, and keep the original purchase and loan papers. Decide early whether you are likely to use the six-year rule. If the house ends up rented for longer than six years, its market value when it was first rented becomes part of the calculation, so a valuation at that point can save trouble later. This is general information; talk to us before the first tenant moves in.
Each return is looked at on its own. If your total work-related expenses are $300 or less, you can claim without full receipts as long as you can show you spent the money and how you worked out the amount, for example highlighted bank statements with a note against each item. Over $300, you need written evidence for every claim. Car expenses are counted separately. Keep the records for five years from the date you lodge.
Yes. We meet in person by arrangement in the Brisbane and Ipswich area, and we also work by video call. Use the contact form to suggest a day and we'll confirm where to meet.
Sources
- ABS 2021 Census QuickStats: Collingwood Park (Qld), SAL30651
- Queensland Places (Centre for the Government of Queensland): Collingwood Park
- Queensland Government: Collingwood Park mine subsidence
- ATO: Records you need to keep
- ATO: Records for rental properties and holiday homes
- ATO: Treating former home as main residence
- ATO: Foreign and worldwide income
- ATO: Lodge with a registered tax agent