Current Page

[Jimmy-T]

Since our last podcast took us to Russia, we thought we’d stay a lot closer to home with this week’s.

A story in the Australian newspaper caught our eye, concerning growing signs that  investors are prepared to mothball their brand-new, off-the-plan apartments.

Rather than put their units on the market when both rents and property prices are in …
https://www.flatchat.com.au/podcast-ghost-apartments-with-added-james-valentine/

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

Topic

[TonyC]

Jimmy, there’s an old saying “If it seems to good to be true, then it probably isn’t true.”
In the Australian Taxation Office’s Guide to Rental Property Owners 2018, it states:
You can claim a deduction for certain expenses you incur for the period your property is rented or is available for rent.
The Tax Office is strict – if they see no rental income yet claims for deductions and depreciation, they will demand evidence such as ‘for rent’ posts on domain.com.au or realestate.com.au, letters from the managing agent to explain (a) the property has been available for rent and (b) the reasons why it has not been rented.
It follows that anyone trying on your scenario will fail in their claims for tax deductions, making the scenario a financial disaster.

Quote

[Jimmy-T]

I did not know that … but then, I didn’t know until recently that you could claim depreciation on your property.

In any case, I’m guessing that the people who do know about these things have already worked out clever ways to avoid ATO scrutiny.

We live in an era when tenants are sub-letting their rented units to holidaymakers and/or cramming them full of overseas students.  This is widely known, so where is the Tax Office?

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

Quote

[Author]

Replies