How to Audit Your WA Rates Notice for Missed Concessions

If your WA rates notice looks higher than it should and you're wondering whether you're actually receiving every concession you're entitled to, the most effective approach is a line-by-line audit of the notice against the concession rules for your specific card combination. Most pensioners register for the basic rates concession and assume everything is taken care of — but WA rates notices bundle several distinct charges, and not all of them get the same rebate. Some get 50%, some get 25%, some get nothing, and unless you check each line, you won't know which category your charges fall into.

What's Actually on Your Rates Notice

A typical WA rates notice contains several separate charges, combined into one bill by your local council. Each charge has its own concession rules:

PCC = Pensioner Concession Card. WASC = WA Seniors Card.

The Five-Step Audit

Step 1: Identify your card combination

Your concession tier depends on which cards you hold, not just one card in isolation:

• PCC alone: 50% tier on council rates (capped at $750), water ($600 cap), and ESL
• WASC alone: 25% tier on council rates (capped at $100), lower water concession
• WASC + Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC): moves you from the $100 WASC cap to the $750 pensioner tier — this is the combination most people miss
• State Concession Card: equivalent to PCC for rates purposes (50% tier)
• Health Care Card only: no rates or water concession eligibility

If you hold a WA Seniors Card and a CSHC but your notice only shows the $100 cap, you're being assessed at the wrong tier.

Step 2: Check whether the concession appears at all

Look for a line labelled "concession", "rebate", or "government subsidy" on your rates notice. If no concession line appears, your registration may not have been processed. This happens when:

• You registered with the Water Corporation but the Common Registration Service notification to your council was delayed
• You moved house and didn't re-register at your new address
• Your concession card or eligibility changed and the registration was not updated
• You registered with your council directly but not with the Water Corporation (meaning water concessions aren't set up)

If no concession line appears and you believe you're registered, call the Water Corporation on 1300 659 951 to confirm your registration status.

Step 3: Verify the concession percentage and cap

With your card combination identified, check the arithmetic:

• Calculate 50% of your total council rates. If the result exceeds $750, the concession should be capped at $750.
• Check the ESL line separately — it should show its own 50% concession.
• Water charges appear on a separate Water Corporation bill, but you can verify whether the concession is applied there too.

Common error: some pensioners see a concession amount and assume it's correct without checking whether it matches 50% of the actual charge. If rates went up due to a GRV revaluation but the concession dollar amount stayed the same as last year, something may not have updated.

Step 4: Identify charges that are NOT concessional

These lines must be paid in full and should not have a concession applied (and if they do, it may be reversed later):

• Waste and rubbish collection charges — never concessional in WA
• Specified area rates — excluded from the state concession scheme
• Late payment interest — if you have overdue balances, interest charges (up to 11% on unpaid ESL balances in some councils) are not reduced by concessions

Don't assume every line should be discounted. Knowing which charges are excluded prevents unnecessary follow-ups with your council.

Step 5: Check for concessions you're NOT getting on the rates notice

Some WA concessions are administered outside the rates notice entirely:

• Cost of Living Rebate ($171.30 for couples, $114.20 for singles) — paid through the WA Seniors Card Centre, not on your rates notice. Requires a WA Seniors Card.
• Safety and Security Rebate (up to $400 for home security improvements) — also through the Seniors Card Centre.
• Water Corporation concession — appears on your water bill, not your rates notice.

If you haven't applied for a WA Seniors Card (for eligible WA residents aged 65 and over who meet residency and workforce rules), you're missing these entirely — even if your rates concession is correct.

When Your Audit Finds a Problem

If concessions are missing or calculated incorrectly:

1. Call the Water Corporation first (1300 659 951) to confirm your registration and card details are current
2. Then call your local council to ask why the concession isn't reflected on the notice
3. Check your current-year pro-rata entitlement — prior rating years cannot be refunded retrospectively. If you owned and occupied the property on 1 July, a local-government rebate may be pro-rated from the date your application was received through 30 June; water-service concessions start from the application date.
4. Keep records of every call: date, person's name, reference number. If you need to escalate, a documented trail makes the review process faster.

Who This Is For

• Pensioners who received a rates notice that seems higher than expected and want to verify every concession is applied
• Anyone holding multiple concession cards (PCC + WASC, CSHC + Seniors Card) who hasn't confirmed they're at the correct rebate tier
• Adult children reviewing a parent's rates notice to check whether concessions are being correctly applied
• Homeowners who moved within WA in the past year and want to confirm concessions transferred to the new property

Who This Is NOT For

• Homeowners who don't hold any concession card — the rebates require eligible card registration
• People looking to reduce rates through a GRV objection (that's a separate Landgate valuation process, not a concession issue)
• Anyone facing enforcement action or rates arrears — contact the National Debt Helpline (1800 007 007) first

Going Deeper

The five-step audit above catches the most common gaps. For a complete audit — including the card-pair eligibility matrix, a worked line-item decoder for every charge type, deferral impact calculations, and current-year pro-rata rules — the Seniors and Pensioners Rates Concessions in Western Australia guide covers the full concession landscape in a single document. Prior rating years cannot be refunded retrospectively.

The guide is particularly useful if your situation involves multiple cards, co-ownership, retirement village tenure, or a mid-year relocation — scenarios where the interaction between concession rules is harder to piece together from individual government websites.

All official application forms and registration portals remain free. The guide organises the information; it doesn't replace the official channels.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn't my concession show on my rates notice even though I registered?

Standard inter-agency processing takes about 5 to 10 business days. If you registered recently, allow that time for the Common Registration Service to forward your details from the Water Corporation to your local council, then call the Water Corporation to confirm your registration was received and processed.

Can I hold both a Pensioner Concession Card and a WA Seniors Card?

Yes, and you should. The PCC gives you the 50% rates concession tier. The WA Seniors Card gives you access to the Cost of Living Rebate and Safety and Security Rebate, which are separate programs. Holding both cards maximises total savings.

What if I discover I've been missing concessions for several years?

You cannot claim refunds for prior rating years. If you owned and occupied the property on 1 July and register later in the current rating year, you may qualify for a pro-rata local-government rebate from the application date through 30 June. Water-service concessions start from the application date.

Are waste charges ever covered by concessions in WA?

No. Waste and rubbish collection charges must be paid in full by all ratepayers, regardless of concession card status. If you're deferring rates, waste charges cannot be deferred either — they're due in full each year.

My rates went up but my concession amount stayed the same — is that right?

Not necessarily. If the Gross Rental Value of your property was revalued upward, your rates increase, and the concession (calculated as a percentage of the new rates) should also increase — up to the $750 cap for PCC holders. If the concession dollar amount didn't change despite a rates increase, confirm with your council that the concession was recalculated for the current rating year.

See more Western Australia guides →