Tax Legislation
What 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,…
Read MoreDepreciable asset or repairs and maintenance? – How to make the call
Owning an investment property will invariably result in having to spend some money on it. The good news is that the tax man (perhaps we need a gender-neutral term but technically the tax commissioner is a man) will let you claim that expenditure as a deduction. However, not all deductions are equal. Spending money on…
Read MoreHow common property assets can supercharge your upfront deductions
Most investors would be aware that if you own a unit within a complex, you’ll have an entitlement to claim over the common property assets based on your share of ownership. This percentage share is commonly referred to as a unit entitlement and can be found on your strata plan or plan of subdivision. You’ll…
Read MoreWhat is a tax depreciation schedule and how can it change your tax return?
Albert Einstein said if you can’t explain something simply, then you don’t understand it well enough. So, it’s time to test my understanding of tax depreciation schedules! A tax depreciation schedule is simply a report detailing the depreciation entitlements available to you within your investment property. The depreciation entitlements can be broken into two simple…
Read MoreInvestors are losing to depreciation changes to plant and equipment
We recently analysed 1,000 residential depreciation schedules and found that 82% of them would still benefit from having a depreciation schedule completed, given the impact of depreciation changes to plant and equipment. In some ways, it’s good news for investors (and quantity surveyors especially) that the impact wasn’t worse. Certainly, abolishing negative gearing would be…
Read MoreCritical misinformation around property depreciation changes
The senate has passed the depreciation changes (as of writing it is awaiting royal assent), but unfortunately a number of large quantity surveying firms have been reporting incorrect or incomplete analysis of the changes. I’ve been modelling the impacts of the recent depreciation changes by analysing the reports in our system as well as looking…
Read MoreWhat you need to know – Investment Property Budget Changes
Investment property tax deductions hit the headlines when the 2017-18 Federal Budget was handed down on 9 May 2017. As the second biggest tax deduction after interest, depreciation deductions against investment properties save investors thousands of dollars and can make or break the profitability of a property investment What deductions can you claim against…
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