Does the negative gearing change apply to property you own?

Mostly no. A rental whose contract was signed before 7:30 pm Canberra time on 12 May 2026 keeps its deductions against your other income, such as your wages, in 2027-28 and after.

A rental signed from that time loses that benefit from 2027-28, unless it is a new dwelling or another exception applies. The change does not touch 2026-27. This is the law as read on 16 October 2026.

What decides whether the change applies to my rental?

The date and time you last acquired your ownership interest. For a property bought under a contract, the contract date counts, not settlement.

The rule is section 26-155 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, added by Schedule 2 of the Tax Reform No. 1 Act and explained on the ATO's reform page. It covers individuals, partnerships, trusts and companies. Widely held unit trusts and complying super funds are outside it.

In the government's own example, Maya buys a home before the cutoff. In 2029-30 she can still claim deductions such as her loan interest against her salary and wages.

What happens to a rental signed after the cutoff?

From 2027-28, the excess of its deductions over its rent no longer lowers your other income. The amount held back can come off later rental income and some capital gains on homes, in the order the law sets, and what is left carries forward to later years.

A new dwelling is treated differently and keeps the old treatment.

The legal test for a new dwelling was still a Bill before Parliament when the law was last checked in mid-October 2026, so do not assume a new build qualifies without reading it.

What does one day change?

In our example, one unit has the same loan, rent and costs in either case, and a net rent of −⁠$17,460 in 2027-28. The owner's tax and HELP without the unit is $43,595. Only the time the contract was signed on 12 May 2026 differs.

• Signed at 7:29 pm: the owner's tax and HELP change is −⁠$6,314, and the unit needs $2,346 in cash.
• Signed at 7:30 pm: the change is −⁠$1,163, and the unit needs $7,497 in cash.

The unit's loss is the same. At 7:29 pm it lowers the owner's tax on wages. At 7:30 pm most of that saving is held back, so the unit needs $5,151 more cash for the same year.

Does the cutoff pass on if the ownership changes?

In some cases it does, when the interest was held before the cutoff.

It carries over to a surviving spouse, to a co-owner who inherits an interest the person who died also held before the cutoff, to a transfer on a relationship breakdown under a court order or agreement, and to a home bought before the cutoff but first rented out after it.

Those carry-overs are in the Tax Reform No. 2 Act, in force from 1 October 2026 for the 2027-28 income year. Check each owner's share and when it was acquired.

What should I check in my records?

• The contract date and time for each rental, not the settlement date.
• Who owns each rental and in what shares, and when each share was last acquired.
• Whether each property is a rental, a home you first rented out later, or new.

The negative gearing calculator works one rental through 2027-28 with the working shown. PropRetire keeps the contract date and time on each property, so the same rule applies to every rental in your records.