You Have Missed The Boat There Is An Embargo – Insurance update

The bushfires have steadied, the fires that were out of control are now under control, if not now largely all extinguished. It is now time for the long road to recovery. Many endless hours of insurance assessing, demolition of existing destroyed properties, delays due to contaminated waste (older house with asbestos), thousands of kilometres of…

Read More

Wrapping up the year with Data, Dance Floors, and Depreciation

2019 in review

Our year started on a high, coming off the back of a massive win for MCG. Landing a position on the Financial Review’s top 100 of fastest-growing businesses, we hit the ground running! Mike Mortlock and Mitch Ford completed their much-anticipated triathlon, with over $2k raised for Heartkids, a charity helping those affected by congenital…

Read More

Aluminium Composite Cladding being used in Victoria

Fire Cladding

So on the ABC News website on the 16th July 2019, the headlines read “Flammable Cladding to be stripped from buildings under Victorian Government Plan”. It was the words of the state political reporter Richard Willingham that echoed the announcement of the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews plan to announce the $600 million package to fund…

Read More

What you need to know about under-insurance & online calculators

Insurance Calculators

In 2004, consumers responding to ASIC’s ACT bushfire survey, 2004, found that the level of under-insurance in Australia is high. Data collected found that in Australia: Between 27% and 81% of consumers were underinsured by 10% or more In 2005, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, issued a report titled “Getting Home Insurance Right”. Within…

Read More

What sort of tax deductions will a swimming pool give you?

Swimming Pool Deductions

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 terribly…

Read More

An Expert Witness Case Study – Owner V Builder, August 2019

Expert Witness

In a recent expert witness case that I was asked to provide my opinion of costs on, the result has now been published. Background The background to both applications is best described as: The Owners’ sought damages from the Builder in respect of: o (Item 1) Defective and/or incomplete works (the Defects Claim); o (Item…

Read More

Three Key Triggers Telling You To Get A Depreciation Schedule

Depreciation Schedule

Every year people complain about Easter eggs being in the shops already in February, it’s one of those perennial water cooler topics like the magpie swooping season. Tax time is no different and for my part, I wish I wasn’t droning on about the end of the financial year approaching every year, but my insatiable…

Read More

Five items your tax depreciation schedule shouldn’t overlook

Tax Depreciation

A tax depreciation schedule lists an investment property’s depreciable building, plant and equipment items and will allow you to claim these depreciation expenses as tax deductions. While obvious features such as walls, carpets and bathroom fittings are always included in tax depreciation schedules, don’t overlook these five not-so-obvious depreciable items:   Common property items within…

Read More