No more deductions for travelling to and from your investment property
The days of writing off the costs of travel to and from your residential investment property are about to end. From 1 July 2017, the Government intends to abolish deductions for travel expenses related to inspecting, maintaining, or collecting rent for a residential rental property.
Depreciation changes and how to maximise your deductions now
Investors who purchase residential rental property from Budget night (9 May 2017, 7:30pm) may not be able to claim the same tax deductions as investors who purchased property prior to this date. In the recent Federal Budget, the Government announced its intention to limit the depreciation deductions available.
Investors who directly purchase plant and equipment – such as ovens, air conditioning units, swimming pools, carpets etc – for their residential investment property after 9 May 2017 will be able to claim depreciation deductions over the effective life of the asset. However, subsequent owners of a property will be unable to claim deductions for plant and equipment purchased by a previous owner of that property. If you are not the original purchaser of the item, you will not be able to use the depreciation rules to your advantage. This is very different to how the rules work now with successive owners being able to claim depreciation deductions.
Investors will still be able to claim capital works deductions including any additional capital works carried out by a previous owner. This is based on the original cost of the construction work rather than what a subsequent owner paid to purchase the property.
There are very limited details about how this Budget announcement will work but we will bring you more as soon as we know.
Business as usual for pre-9 May investment property owners
If you bought an investment property recently, are about to renovate, or have not had a depreciation schedule completed previously, you should consider having one completed.
As a property gets older the building and items within it wear out. Property owners of income producing buildings are able to claim a deduction for this wear and tear. Depreciation schedules are completed by quantity surveyors and itemise the depreciation deductions you can claim.
Higher immediate deductions for co-owners
It’s not uncommon to have multiple owners of an investment property. Co-ownership can, in some circumstances, quicken the rate depreciation deductions can be claimed for the same asset. This is because depreciation is claimed on each owner’s interest. If an owner’s interest in an asset is less than $300, they can claim an immediate deduction. In a situation where there are two owners split 50:50, both owners could potentially claim the immediate deduction, bringing the total immediate deduction available up to $600 for a single asset.
The same method can be used when applying low-value pooling. Where an owner’s interest in an asset is less than $1,000, these items will qualify to be placed in a low-value pool. This means they can be claimed at an increased rate of 18.75% in the first year regardless of the number of days owned and 37.5% from the second year onwards.
In a situation where ownership is split 50:50, by calculating an owner’s interest in each asset first, the owners will qualify to pool assets which cost less than $2,000 in total to the low-value pool.
The value of renovations
It’s best to get a depreciation schedule completed before you start renovations so the scrap value of any items you remove can be recognised and written-off as a 100% tax deduction in the year of removal. This is available for both plant and equipment depreciation and capital works deductions. When new work is completed as part of the renovations (i.e., a new roof, walls, or ceiling), this can also be depreciated going forward.
In some circumstances, there may be depreciation deductions available for renovations completed by a previous owner.
Deductions for older properties
Investors in older properties may still be able to claim depreciation costs. This is because a lot of the items in the house will not be the same age as the house or apartment. Hot water systems, ovens, carpets, curtains etc., have probably all been replaced over time. Additional works, extensions or internal refurbishments may also be deductible.
