Rental Property Depreciation Claims

Is your negatively geared rental property correctly depreciated? Many rental property owners miss out on tax claims because they do not claim depreciation on their property or depreciation claims are done incorrectly. The ATO is targeting depreciation claims.

If you own a residential rental property to minimise your tax and it is less than 10 years old it may be advisable to engage a qualified Quantity Surveyor to work out the correct depreciation and building write-off for your property. The surveyor will produce a report setting out a yearly depreciation amount for all depreciable assets and for the building itself. This will maximise your tax advantage of owning a rental property.

If you want to find out more call us and we are happy to advice you and recommend an independent firm.

ATO Hot Spots

The ATO has been expanding its data-matching activities for business and individuals. At the moment the ATO collects data from 3rd parties such as the banks, employers, share registry and other government departments. This allows them to identify undeclared salary and wage income, undeclared bank interest, undeclared government benefits and undeclared income from selling activities.

For the 2015 income year work-related expenses for individuals, in particular travel expenses related to overnight travel (meal and accommodation expenses) and work related proportions of computers and ipads are in the ATO’s firing line.

For businesses, the ATO compares the proportion of  expenses to income in a particular industry to identify any unusually high expense claims. The cash industries are targeted in particular.