What is Depreciation & How Does it Work?

As a business owner or property investor you’re entitled to make a tax claim for depreciation – but what exactly is depreciation? It’s best described as the devaluation of your assets over a number of years and different assets have different life spans so that’s why the depreciation rates differ. An asset is defined as an item costing over $500 which will be used on an o... More

Topics: Income Tax Claimable Expenses Depreciation Accounting Business

Posted 23/07/2017

---

Buying a Commercial Property?

To get the best tax deductions available for depreciation on a commercial building fit-out you will need to: Have an independent valuer prepare a fit-out valuation immediately purchasing a property. They will need to provide a report that splits out fit-out items with the appropriate value for each item. Please note: If you don't get an independent valuer to do this fit-out report you will ... More

Topics: Rental Property Depreciation

Posted 20/08/2015

---

Claiming Website Development Costs

There is a distinction between what is an asset and what is an expense when it comes to your business website. The costs of obtaining the domain name and the initial build of the website are an asset - so can't be claimed fully in the year that the costs were incurred. There is depreciation claimable on the website meaning the tax expense claims get spread out over a few years. Any on-going costs ... More

Topics: Claimable Expenses Depreciation Accounting Record Keeping

Posted 16/10/2014

---

Tips for Buying a Rental that Needs Maintenance

Often people buy a rental property that needs a bit of work done to it - they then get the keys and undertake repairs and maintenance that can cost a few thousand dollars. The property is then looking all good and they put it to the market to find a tenant. In this instance all of the costs to repair the property will be capitalised - added to the purchase price of the property - no tax claims av... More

Topics: Claimable Expenses Rental Property Depreciation Record Keeping

Posted 1/10/2014 – Updated 7/10/2014

---

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

---

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

---

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

---