New Kiwitax Rental Property Spreadsheets - Free to Clients

In addition to the recently released Kiwitax GST Spreadsheets there's now a new Kiwitax Rental Property Spreadsheet. Spreadsheets are an easy, cost effective way for property owners to keep track of their income and expenses. This new spreadsheet places the transaction amounts in the correct columns, provides drop down lists for quick selection of transaction types and totals everything up auto... More

Topics: Rental Property Record Keeping Client Care Accounting Software Freebies

Posted 9/10/2012

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Removal of Depreciation on Buildings for Tax Deductions

From the 1 April 2011 financial year and onwards, there is no longer the ability to claim depreciation on buildings with an estimated useful life of 50 years or more. However chattels (for example stoves, carpets, dishwashers etc) are still able to be depreciated. This rule change will predominantly affect rental property investors and will have the result of creating less loss or more profit whi... More

Topics: Claimable Expenses Rental Property Depreciation Tax Compliance

Posted 3/03/2011

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Important Changes to Claiming Building Depreciation

A significant change this year is depreciation can no longer be claimed on most buildings. Currently depreciation on buildings is treated as a loss of value and is used to offset income generated. This change has been made as it is rare for a building to decrease in value yet tax payers could effectively devalue buildings to reduce tax. For people or businesses with buildings who are currently cla... More

Topics: Income Tax Claimable Expenses Rental Property Depreciation Tax Compliance

Posted 8/02/2011

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Selling An LAQC Owned Property

Important: from 1 April 2011 LAQCs will cease and a transition to alternative registrations and / or structures will need to happen. Question: What tax benefit (if any) there will be if I sold my rental property (which is owned by an LAQC) at a loss, and paid advertising costs and a Real Estate commission. Would this increase my loss and thus affect the capital value of the asset at the end of ye... More

Topics: LAQC Rental Property

Posted 5/01/2009

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Do I Have To Return My Overseas Rental Property In My NZ Tax Return?

When you are a NZ tax resident you are required to declare your worldwide income in your NZ tax return which includes your overseas investment property. The way it works is that the costs are deducted off the rental income – if the costs are higher than the income a loss occurs – this loss can be offset against your NZ earnings which can result in tax refunds. If a profit is achieved ... More

Topics: Rental Property Overseas Income

Posted 21/10/2008

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Should Your Residential Rental Property Be GST Registered?

No. Residential rental properties are exempt from GST. You cannot charge or claim GST for the supply of residential rental accommodation, therefore there is no GST implications for this type of activity. This means that there is no GST claimable on the purchase of the property and there is no GST payable on the sale of the property. More

Topics: GST Rental Property Tax Compliance Guides

Posted 17/10/2008

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Rental Property Trading Structures

Privately Owned To privately own your rental property basically is when you go out and purchase and own it under your own name. All rents received and expenses are declared in your personal tax return. There's no "official" setup or registration required other than buying the property in your own name. Going with privately owned is a good choice in that it's easy and inexpensive to get started a... More

Topics: Rental Property Structures Terminology Guides

Posted 17/10/2008

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How Do I Record Or Keep Track Of My Financial Transactions?

There are several ways you can record and account for your business income and expenditure transactions on a regular basis. These include... Writing up a manual cashbook (or doing an spreadsheet) – this records all the expenditure in a column layout formula – you have headings across the top of the page that relate to your costs – like vehicle expenses, printing & statione... More

Topics: Rental Property Accounting Business Record Keeping Guides Accounting Software

Posted 14/10/2008

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Advertising / Commission Costs When Selling a Rental Property

If you pay costs to advertise the sale of your rental property, these are not claimable as a cost but will come off the sale price once the property is sold. This is the same for commission paid to an agent when selling the property - it will reduce the sale price. More

Topics: Claimable Expenses Rental Property Tax Compliance

Posted 7/10/2008 – Updated 23/09/2014

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What Is Depreciation On A Rental Property?

[Update: Please note depreciation is not allowed on buildings now] Depreciation is the devaluation of your rental property building at a small percentage per year – this becomes a cost like rates, interest etc and makes your overall loss bigger – which equals better tax refunds. When you come to sell the property or move into it yourself, the sale price/current value is accounted for ... More

Topics: Claimable Expenses Rental Property Depreciation

Posted 6/10/2008

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Repairs On a Rental Property - Are They An Expense Or Improvement?

You are only allowed a deduction for repairs and maintenance where the expenditure is required to maintain an asset in the condition it was initially acquired. If you add something extra to the house – this is likely to be an improvement and claimable for depreciation only. More

Topics: Claimable Expenses Rental Property

Posted 6/10/2008

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