All around the country people are frantically pulling all of their financial information and tax related documents out of the filing cabinets to prepare their yearly returns for the Australian Tax Office (ATO).  When it comes to your property and in particular, your investment property, it is vital to ensure you are claiming all your entitlements to make the most of your asset!

Just like a car, when you buy a property, be it a unit or house, the contents start to depreciate in value.  The ATO enables investors to claim depreciation on certain items like fittings and fixtures at the end of every financial year.  This certainly can add up over the years and getting it right means more money back in your pocket come tax time each year!

source:  http://onproperty.com.au/ 

The first step to claiming depreciation on your asset is to get in touch with a professional!  A tax depreciation company will come and conduct a thorough inspection of your property.  The specialist will generally need to spend some time on site at the property measuring and photographing eligible depreciable assets and recording all the necessary details.

After the inspection they will prepare a detailed tax depreciation schedule showing how much value each of those items will lose (depreciate) every year for up to 40 years.

“Having a tax depreciation specialist come and visit your property and put together the report for you is so easy and can make such a difference come tax times”, said Hannah Schuhmann, Principal of HS Brisbane Property.

When it comes to choosing the right company to prepare the report we suggest first ensuring they are a member of the industry body the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors.  This means that they are registered and most likely more up to date with the most current rules and policies from the ATO.  You can check if a business is a member of the AIQS on the website  http://www.aiqs.com.au/ in the ‘find a member’ section.

Hannah suggests to speak to your Real Estate Agent to find out which company did the original Depreciation Schedules for the building, as they would have more detailed information in regards to the building costs etc and may be able to prepare a more precise report.

As another plus, the actual fee for having the one off report down is also tax deductible so it’s a win win!  Have a chat to a depreciation specialist today and see what it a difference it could make when it comes to your tax return for this year!