Tax Legislation
Scrapping schedules – They were great, but here’s why they’re a thing of the past
You’ll have to excuse us Quantity Surveyors as we get very excited about certain dates. The May 2017 budget (9th of May) heralded the largest change to depreciation rules since 2006, it certainly ruined what would have been a perfectly good glass of Shiraz as I sat watching Scott Morrison at home. For anyone lucky…
Read MoreBuilding approvals point to a potential future housing shortage
It doesn’t seem that long ago we were talking about an oversupply of apartments across Sydney, South Melbourne, and Brisbane. However, a lot has changed in the past few years. The ABS October figures on building approvals show a seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwelling units falling by 8.1% in October. The graph below from…
Read MoreWhat you need to know about short term leasing your investment property
I’ll admit that I struggled with an appropriate title as the above one is certainly clunky, but I wanted to share some tips on how to rent your investment property out on a short-term basis, similar to an Airbnb type setup. My pet subject is depreciation, so I’m not going to let you get…
Read MoreThe ever-changing demographics that drive smart investment decisions
Those who know me, know I don’t mind a chat. Whiling away my time via the exchange of ideas is a joy. Best of all, it’s a move out of my professional comfort zone – a chance to expand the mind beyond ‘rates per square metre’ and legislative minutia. Economists, builders, buyer’s agents and investment…
Read MoreWhat sort of tax deductions will a swimming pool give you?
Swimming pools and depreciation – What sort of tax deductions will a swimming pool give you? It’s not unheard of for an investment property to have a swimming pool, certainly a shared one as part of the common areas of a larger unit development is very common. However, residential houses with swimming pools aren’t…
Read MoreDeductions & Depreciation for all – Why the kids are doing OK
Like any good analytical thinker, I love to hypothesise. Some think it’s a character flaw, whereas I – and those of my quantity surveying ilk – enjoy nothing more than ingesting data, extrapolating the assumptions and producing a conclusion. I was thinking about the recent federal election and the discussions put forward pre-poll day about…
Read MoreWhat the 2019 Federal Election result means for property investors
This question will be sliced and diced a million different ways over the next week or two, but I wanted to give you my thoughts on it. In the short term, it’s going to provide a lot more certainty, and it will be back to business as usual eventually. A lot of investors and even…
Read MoreWhy does your split depreciation schedule not add up?
Apologies for the click bait article title, but I was at a loss as to what to call it. Let me start by saying that split depreciation schedules are fantastic. I’ve written about them before: https://www.mcgqs.com.au/blog/split-depreciation-reports-are-saving-investment-property-co-owners-thousands/) and we’ve done thousands of them. They’re a fantastic way for multiple tenants in common to see their exact…
Read MoreMy favourite QS BS – The top three furphies spouted by the depreciation industry
As a Quantity Surveyor or QS if you will, I have the pleasure of a little inside information when it comes to reading some of the articles or catch phrases written by other quantity surveyors. No sour grapes here, for the most part we all get along. I have some great relationships with a number…
Read MoreWhat you need to know – Tax depreciation effective lives 2018/2019 – TR 2018/4
From the 1st of July 2018, new effective life rulings have been in affect that govern how plant and equipment assets are depreciated. The new ruling is TR 2018/4 and replaces TR 2017/2 (I don’t know how they come up with such whacky names). If you happen to be in any of the following industries,…
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