Claiming deductions in relation to a holiday home
Maximising Holiday Home Deductions A Guide to Valid Rental Expenses Taxpayers should remember that they can only claim deductions for holiday home expenses to the extent they are incurred for the purpose of gaining or producing rental income. They need to consider the following in determining whether the deductions they wish to claim are valid […]
Taxpayers need to get their rental right
Important Tax Considerations for Rental Property Owners Reporting Rental Income and Managing Rental Expenses The ATO reminds rental property owners and their tax agents to take care when lodging their tax returns this tax time. When preparing their tax returns, taxpayers should make sure all rental income is included, including income from short-term rental arrangements, […]
Residential investment property loan data-matching program
ATO to Acquire Residential Investment Property Loan Data for Compliance and Analytical Purposes Scope, Utilisation, and Implications of the ATO’s Data-Matching Initiative for the 2021/22-2025/26 Financial Years The ATO has advised that it will acquire residential investment property loan data from authorised financial institutions for the 2021/22 through to 2025/26 financial years, including: client identification […]
Builder unable to obtain refund of incorrectly charged GST
Ruling by Administrative Appeals Tribunal impacts GST refund guidelines The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has held that a builder was unable to receive a refund of GST incorrectly charged on the sale of a residential premises that had been rented for just over five years since construction was complete. The taxpayer claimed the GST charged on […]
Rental properties and second-hand depreciating assets
Be aware of the tax rules surrounding ‘second-hand depreciating assets’ The ATO is reminding taxpayers that have a residential rental property, to take care when making claims for second-hand depreciating assets used in their properties. In most cases, these are items that existed in the taxpayer’s property when they purchased it, or were in their […]
Discretionary trusts and corporate beneficiaries
Tax treatment of deemed dividends When a trustee of a trust makes a decision to create an entitlement to income of the trust in favour of a corporate beneficiary (i.e., a privately held company), certain steps need to be taken to ensure that if the entitlement to the distribution remains unpaid (that is, no cash […]
Downsizer contributions age changes
Downsizer contributions age changes from 1 July 2022 From 1 July 2022, people aged 60 years and over became eligible to make downsizer contributions of up to $300,000 per person ($600,000 per couple) from the sale proceeds of their home into their super. For downsizer contributions made prior to 1 July 2022, eligible individuals must […]
Property investor common tax traps
ATO warns property investors about common tax traps In 2019/20, over 1.8 million Australians owned rental properties and claimed $38 billion in deductions, so the ATO is reminding property investors to beware of common tax traps that can delay refunds or lead to an audit costing taxpayers time and money. The most common mistake rental […]
ATO property data-matching programs
New ATO data-matching programs involving property The ATO has advised that it will engage in two new data-matching programs dealing with property transactions, as follows: The ATO will acquire property management data from property management software providers for the 2018/19 through to 2022/23 financial years (relating to approximately 1.6 million individuals); and The ATO will […]
Getting the margin scheme right
The margin scheme may allow a property owner to pay less GST when they sell the property Rather than paying 1/11th of the total sale price, sellers may be able to pay 1/11th of their margin on the sale. If a property owner wants to use the margin scheme when selling property, they must be […]
