BAN TACS Property Accountants for Investors and Developers | Community

BAN TACS Property Accountants for Investors and Developers

Phone: 1300022682

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Other
• Community

25.01.2022 Monday Money Talk with Noel Whittaker Anybody who owns property knows that maintenance is never-ending. We have just been through the turmoil of replacing our r...oof, which gave me the opportunity to have a good chat to the tradies on the job. One lovely young guy came up to me and said, Love your house what do you do? I told him that I write books showing people how to be wealthy. His eyes opened wide: Whats the secret? This is what I told him. Becoming wealthy is simple you need to continually increase your skills, which should increase your income. You also need to spend less than you earn, and invest the surplus wisely to allow compound interest work its magic. Look at your fellow workers they look like good people, but I can tell you they are not on the road to riches. Many of them smoke, a lot are heavily tattooed, and many have hotted up motor vehicles. All this is expenditure of no lasting value. You have chosen a career in construction, which should give you a good income for life, but if you choose to stay on the tools, you may find yourself unable to work once you reach 65, as your body will be worn out. This is why you should be increasing your skills with the aim of becoming a foreman, and then move up to the aim of having your own building company. This will enable you to control your destiny, and generate enough assets to give you a prosperous life. Remember, its the income you earn that will drive your wealth creation program and how much you get paid will depend on the skills you acquire. Saving money at your age should not be difficult. Think about it by the end of the year an average packet of cigarettes will probably cost $50. So anyone who smokes a pack a day will be spending $18,250 a year. Fast forward 40 years if the price of cigarettes increases by 2% every year, the smoker will have invested $1.5 million in cigarettes. If a non-smoker invested that $18,250 a year into a good share trust that averages 9% a year, they should have $6.1 million in 40 years. A major factor in your success will be your ability to set and achieve goals. Goals help you focus on what you want, and keep you on track. Without goals your life will be all over the place: full of good intentions but no results. As a young building worker you are perfectly placed to buy a rundown home in a good location and spend your spare time and skills in doing it up. Sell it after a year or two, and you should make a nice tax-free capital gain, which could be the foundation for your next home. If that idea appeals, write down a goal today to buy your first home within five years. Luckily, you dont smoke, but lets pretend you are a reformed smoker and invest the $50 a day you are now saving. For this I suggest a RAIZ account, which has a great app to teach finance skills, and enables you to watch you savings grow. Banking the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes a day should give you about $60,000 in three years. Theres your house deposit. Keep in mind too, that one of the reasons most people dont end up well off is because they follow the crowd. Right now youre mixing with a great bunch of young blokes, but Ill bet that most them have no long-term goals or plants. You have to be the one who is different. I ended my dissertation by giving him a copy of Making Money Made Simple. As I explained, making money is simple you just need to follow some basic rules. --------------------- Noel Whittaker is the author of Making Money Made Simple and numerous other books on personal finance. [email protected]

25.01.2022 Soap Box Sunday - Its not the size of the Debt that matters but the way that you use it! Apparently debt and deficit do not matter just as long as government spending does not take workers away from the needs of the private sector. This theory might make sense of why our share market and dollar are not doing that bad at all. As long as the politicians can resist arguing for austerity measures to score points against each other we may come out of this all right. A...pparently inflation is not a risk until we have high employment especially if that employment is for the government rather than producing goods for consumers. This edition of the drum gets interesting about 40 minutes in and at 45 minutes Alan Kohler joins the argument. A far cry from the fear mongering in the press. It also means all those people who conscientiously objected to collecting a Jobkeeper handout might have been shooting themselves in the foot on two counts. One by depriving their business of the production of their workers and the other by depriving the economy of goods and the money to buy them. https://www.abc.net.au//the-drum:-tuesday-11th-o/12547682

24.01.2022 Welcome to BAN TACS Accountants Property page. For over 25 years now we have been helping property investors get it right the first time. Unfortunately, most people see their Accountant too late. It is so frustrating, we dont find out until we prepare your tax return! It is far too late by then for us to do much at all. Once you have bought the wrong property in the wrong name, not kept the right records and probably spent money on initial repairs (that you didnt real...ise werent tax deductible) and are waiting impatiently thinking you are going to get a nice big refund, it is all too late. Our solution to this problem is to educate anyone who will listen, for free here in small bits and in full detail on our web site http://www.bantacs.com.au/topics/property-investors/ see all the free booklets. We also provide a pre purchase due diligence service, you can read more about that here http://www.bantacs.com.au/topics/property-investors/pipkit/ There is an askbantacs section http://www.bantacs.com.au/QandA/index.php and lots of helpful tools in our shopping section. Sorry, got carried away. I hope you enjoy our posts and please tell your friends. See more

24.01.2022 Interesting stats from SQM research. I wonder if Victorians are heading west to get away from lock down and whether it will be permanent? Lowest Vacancy Rates 1. Woolaning NT 0.1% 2. Regency park SA 0.1%... 3. Osborne SA 0.1% Highest Vacancy Rates 1. Murdunna TAS 14.3% 2. Palm beach NSW 13.9% 3. Sydney cbd NSW 13.2%

23.01.2022 STUDENT SUCCESS: Beck in VIC did a great job updating her facade. She definitely sees the importance of street appeal. So proud of my students! Cx

22.01.2022 Interested in the Home Builder Grant? Here is a great little Q&A https://treasury.gov.au//HomeBuilder_Frequently_asked_ques

22.01.2022 Herron Todd White November Property report out now. Sunshine coast is getting close to the peak. https://static.htw.com.au/HTW-month-in-review-November-2020

22.01.2022 CGT Issues When You Inherit A Property A very generous askbantacser has allowed their question to be published. https://taxquestions.com.au/cgt-start-date-on-inherited-pr/

22.01.2022 Do You Salary Sacrifice Your Mortgage Repayments? People who work for public hospitals and benevolent institutions receive a tax benefit for salary sacrificing personal expenses. It is a great idea but can go very wrong if the expense is tax deductible. For example if you rent out the house that you are salary sacrificing the mortgage repayments on then you will not get a tax deduction for the interest. Best to change the expense payment across to something else.

22.01.2022 Property prices are moving up https://www.abc.net.au/news/business/kohler-report/

22.01.2022 Landlords cant evict tenants - rental vacancies plummet. $25,000 building grant means developers can charge more for vacant land as people rush to get into the market before the end of December. The lack of building to date suggests shortage of supply.... All this bodes well for property values especially for states further away from Victoria. https://www.abc.net.au//coronavirus-queensland-re/12472334

21.01.2022 Another good reason to go 99:1 on title. Not that it would solve all of the problem. A great discussion has started on our financial planning page about what happens when the house is in one name but borrowings are joint and the person who owns the house dies. It is not looking good for the surviving debtor unless they inherit the house and the will is not challenged. Much more to come on this, worth following. Considering Cowap and Cowap where a child even got their ...hands on a house that was joint tenancy there is real problems with be a joint borrower on a house you do not own. Further, if you think your family wouldnt challenge the will take the circumstances of a disabled child with the public trustee handling their affairs so the public trustee decides to sue the parents estate. Are there any brokers out there that can give us an idea of how a married couple can borrow without being co debtors?

20.01.2022 Fat Tax Refunds! It seems not all our clients are acting responsibly with their refund cheque. One, when asking how much he was getting back, explained, he just wanted to see if it would float. All our offices are taking the necessary COVID precautions but there are also many other ways to have your tax return prepared by a BAN TACS Accountant. In Person https://www.bantacs.com.au/aboutus/locations/... Through the Mail https://www.bantacs.com.au/topics/mail-in-tax-returns/ Zoom Meeting and electronic signing https://www.bantacs.com.au/virtual-tax-returns/ See more

20.01.2022 No Need To Let a Border Get Between You and a Great Tax Refund We also do mail ins and virtual tax returns over zoom. https://www.bantacs.com.au/topics/mail-in-tax-returns/ https://www.bantacs.com.au/virtual-tax-returns/

19.01.2022 Build to rent but end up living there A very generous Askbantacser has allowed us to publish their question and answer. They built a duplex to rent out but are now going to live in one side so need to understand the CGT consequences and how to best organise the loan. https://taxquestions.com.au/duplex-to-rent-changes-to-livi/

18.01.2022 Mmm definitely no rushed fire sales. I wonder if this is just because people dont want to move during the pandemic. PROPERTY LISTINGS DECREASE IN AUGUST by Louis Christopher, CEO... Figures released today by SQM Research reveal national residential property listings decreased in August by 6.3% from 312,680 listings in July 2020 to 293,053. Compared to 12 months ago listings were also down by 10.0%. All capital cities recorded decreases in property listings over the month with Melbourne recording the highest decrease at 13.2%. Hobart recorded the second largest decrease at 9.4% followed by Canberra with 6.3% decrease. Sydney recorded a 4.0% monthly decrease and Brisbane recorded a 5.1% decrease. Perth and Darwin experienced smaller decreases of 2.0% and 3.7% respectively. National year-on-year listings reveal a decrease of 10.0% with significant decreases in Darwin (26.9%) and Hobart (21.4%), however Sydney recorded a minor 1.2% increase. Melbournes decrease was smaller at 1.8%. All other capital cities recorded declines over the 12 months. See more

18.01.2022 Want More? Here is a link to Noels bookshop https://www.noelwhittaker.com.au/shop/

18.01.2022 Still waiting on Paper Work to Complete your Tax Return? It might never come! Much of what we need to prepare your tax return is now available direct o...n the ATO portal. We can access it for you. The portal will give us interest earned but not interest paid so you will still need to get this if you have a rental property. Your PAYG summaries, dividends and health insurance details should also be on the portal. Here is a link to our checklists to help you prepare https://www.bantacs.com.au/media-library/checklists/ If you prefer social distancing and avoiding travel we also do virtual tax returns over zoom. https://www.bantacs.com.au/virtual-tax-returns/ For the contact details of your nearest BAN TACS office go to https://www.bantacs.com.au/aboutus/locations/ See more

18.01.2022 Time to phone your bank! With interest rates so low just a half % drop in the interest rate can mean a 15% drop in your interest bill for the year. Very significant. You can do some what ifs here https://www.noelwhittaker.com.au//calcul/loan-calculators/

18.01.2022 Just a Thought Twas mentioned on Insiders this morning that there needs to be more certainty around what the dole will be after the 31st December, 2020 so that people know whether to renew their lease. According to government estimates another 240,000 people are expected to join the dole queue by Christmas. I guess this means the snap back is out of the question and they realise that businesses that wont continue to qualify for Jobkeeper after September will hav...e to lay off staff. Estimations are difficult but there could be 1 to 1.5 million people on the dole by Christmas, according to Shane Wright. By then landlords will be able to evict tenants and during that time many leases would have expired. Rough estimates or not it would seem the demand for low cost housing will increase. Possibly in the regions as the dole and rental assistance is the same wherever you live and avoiding public transport and crowds is generally a good COVID safe strategy. Its not all doom and gloom IMHO people still have to live somewhere and there is still a lot of extra government money stimulating demand for housing. If that money meets with limited supply then prices will move up. See more

17.01.2022 Julia Hartman and Margaret Lomas https://mypropertytv.com.au/Media/Index

16.01.2022 August Property Clock Is Out Now! Not surprisingly, Melbourne and Sydney are on the declining market side of the clock. But Brisbane is also. With Canberra and Adelaide at the peak. https://static.htw.com.au/HTW-month-in-review-August-2020-R

14.01.2022 https://www.abc.net.au//victoria-police-sergeant-/12668944

14.01.2022 How much is your investment property really costing you to hold? If you have done your 2020 tax return have a look at the rental schedule and see what the tax loss is. Multiply that by your tax rate and that will tell you how much the ATO is contributing through the tax refund generated by the property. Then take the tax loss and add back your building depreciation to get the real out of pocket cost of holding the property. If the refund your tax loss generates is more than the real out of pocket costs of holding the property you have a negatively geared, positive cash flow property.

14.01.2022 Monday Money Talk with Noel Whittaker This week I received an email from a reader with an issue that continues to baffle people. He wrote that he and his wife h...ave lived in their present home for 10 years and have heard they can be absent for up to six years without losing the capital gains tax exemption. But he wondered about the position when a person moved into a new home, and rented out the original one. He asked if they can they nominate which is their principal place of residence, and also what address to put on their annual tax return. It is correct that you can be absent from your residence and live in another home, you own, without losing the CGT exception. If the property is being used to produce income then the period of absence is limited to 6 years, for the full exemption, though setting up home there again means another 6 years when you move out. For those who like history, the six years came about because that just happens to be the term for a politician in the Senate. This law enables politician to move to Canberra for six years without losing the CGT exemption on their home then come home for a while to fight an election then rent out their home for another six years. If the property is not being used to produce income then period of time it can continue to be covered by your main residence exemption is infinite. It gets a bit tricky when you move out of a residence, and start to live in another one and treat that as your new residence. The good news is, that you dont need to elect which home is your principal residence, until you decide to sell one of them. This may be several years down the track. It is important to keep receipts for expenses relating to both properties to keep your options open. Anything to do with the property that has not otherwise been claimed as a tax deduction has potential such as interest, rates, repairs, insurance and improvements. But also consider every day expenses such as cleaning materials, light globes, lawn mower fuel etc. Furthermore, if you do decide to treat the new home as your residence, you are only liable for CGT on the original home, on the gain, from the date you rented it out. This is why its important to get a valuation on that property when you for move out of it. This resetting of the cost base to market value does not apply if you do not use it to produce income. Lets look at an example. You own a property, which is worth $600,000 when you move to a new residence which costs $800,000. In five years, the original property is worth $700,000 and the new residence is worth $1.2 million. There are no decisions to make until you are thinking about selling one. But lets suppose youve decided to keep the rental property, because you are now downsizing to a retirement village. After talking to your accountant, you will probably decide to nominate your present residence as your principal residence, leaving an unrealised capital gain on the original property on which no CGT will be payable until the property is sold. The address for tax return purposes is the actual address of the place you are living in. That makes no difference to the CGT position but it is important that you retain evidence that you lived at both places at some time. There is one exception to the rule which can be utilised by savvy investors. If a property is your principle residence at the date of death, any previous CGT liability can be avoided. Suppose a person owned their own home, and also an investment property that was carrying a high unrealised capital gain. If they felt they were close to death, they could sell their current residence and move into the investment property and treat it as their own home. At date of their death, it would be their residence and would be deemed to be acquired by the beneficiaries at its market value at date of death. The property could then be sold by the beneficiaries CGT free within two years. Noel Whittaker is the author of Making Money Made Simple and numerous other books on personal finance. [email protected]

13.01.2022 Professional Tax Returns - See the Difference in your Refund Our offices are taking all the necessary COVID precautions but there are also many other ways to have your tax return prepared by a BAN TACS Accountant. In Person https://www.bantacs.com.au/aboutus/locations/ Through the Mail https://www.bantacs.com.au/topics/mail-in-tax-returns/... Zoom Meeting and electronic signing https://www.bantacs.com.au/virtual-tax-returns/ See more

13.01.2022 Mass Exodus From the Cities: SQMs vacancy rate data certainly seem to be saying this is happening with some regional areas showing a vacancy rate below 1% while the cities are in double digits. https://sqmresearch.com.au/graph_vacancy.php?postcode=&t=1 https://www.abc.net.au//regional-city-property-ma/12541598

12.01.2022 https://www.abc.net.au//building-boom-hits-north/12423764

11.01.2022 https://www.abc.net.au//hackers-steal-from-church/12624580

09.01.2022 Monday Money Talk with Noel Whittaker Whenever I talk to people I sense a feeling of uncertainty. The stock market is volatile, the property market is running hot in many places, an American presidential election is almost on us, and the prospects for a Covid vaccine still seem to be just out of sight. But there are optimists among us just this week Deloitte partner Chris Richardson made headlines when he said that if things go right, and virus numbers go right, you genu...Continue reading

07.01.2022 Property Clock Bit more on the decline side this month compared with June but still most areas on the inclining side. https://static.htw.com.au/HTW-month-in-review-July-2020-Res

07.01.2022 Soap Box Sunday - Tax Cuts So let me get this straight, we need more money spent in the economy once they take away Jobkeeper. More money spent means more jobs created. Ok I have got that far but what I dont get is why that is best done by tax cuts to high income earners rather than the government keeping the money and spending it on projects that will benefit everyone and generate jobs. It seems to me that is a better option to ensure it all goes to creating jobs instead of paying off the mortgages of high income earners. And that everyone benefits from the expenditure not just the wealthy. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Afterall Keynes was thrown out of his economics degree. So no doubt there will be contradicting opinions. But I just dont get it!

07.01.2022 Dont Panic Too Much About Selling the Deceaseds Home Within Two Years of Death The basic rule is that the deceaseds home must be disposed of within two years of the deceaseds death or CGT will apply. There are a few concessions and the tax is not that bad. Concessions:... The two years is extended during the time the house is the home of the deceaseds spouse or someone granted a right to live there, under the will. Further the ATO can also grant additional time if there have been delays beyond your control such as the will being challenged. The Tax is not that Bad: Even if you dont sell until after the 2 years, tax will only apply to the gain since death. That is the difference between the selling price and the market value at date of death, plus holding and selling costs, even a bit of the probate costs. The 50% CGT discount also applies. Though it should be consider that the estate is only entitled to the concessional tax rates of an adult, with the tax free threshold, for the first 3 tax returns after death. In short dont panic. The relevant date in this case is settlement date, not the date of the contract to sell. All of this is conditional upon the property being considered the deceases main residence at date of death. They dont have to actually be living there, for example they may be living in a nursing home. It just has to be that, if it was earning income after they moved out, 6 years has not passed. If it is not earning income then this period is infinite.

07.01.2022 If you cant BAN TACS at least Minimise it Legally

06.01.2022 How to get Home Builder Grant if Income too High If you are a member of a couple just buy the property in the name of the low income earner. It is not a question of whether you are a member of a couple or not. The only couple rule is that if there are two names on the title then they must be a couple or they dont even get a look in. But if there is one name then you apply as a single regardless of your relationship status. This also means that families wanting to renovate a home that is only in the name of the high income earner are subject to the single persons threshold so probably wont qualify.

06.01.2022 What I learned today! I was speaking with Margaret Lomas and she said that if you have a 20% deposit the banks dont care where you got it from. This was in regard to parents helping their children buy a home. Apparently, if the deposit is less than 20% and the parent helped out, the bank may want the parent to guarantee the whole loan. Mmm might be better to cough up a little more!

05.01.2022 Vacancy Rates Great free calculator on the SQM web site. https://sqmresearch.com.au/graph_vacancy.php Very interesting change in stats... Sydney July 2020 13.2% vacancy Melbourne July 2020 8.8% vacancy Brisbane July 2020 13.0% vacancy Adelaide July 2020 7.6% vacancy Perth July 2020 5.5% vacancy Darwin July 2020 1.3% vacancy Hobart July 2020 1.0% vacancy Canberra July 2020 6.9% vacancy Geelong July 2020 2.6% vacancy Orange July 2020 0.4% vacancy Mackay July 2020 0.7% vacancy Rockhampton July 2020 0.3% vacancy Looks like capital cities have lost their shininess. I think it will be a long time before people feel comfortable with having to use public transport. Maybe position position nolonger means being near a train station but being near a CBD that you can easily drive into.

05.01.2022 Newsflash 355 Out Now! https://www.bantacs.com.au//uplo/2020/10/Newsflash-355.pdf

04.01.2022 Soap Box Sunday - Jobkeeper Will Destroy Future Employment Opportunities by Destroying Small Business What the financial review said on Tuesday about small businesses being stuck with the financial burden of an extra 2 weeks annual leave payments for employees who have not worked for 6 months is only a portion of disastrous situation Jobkeeper has created. BTW please note we warned our followers about this in April. Next month businesses will have to fund 3 fortnights worth... of jobkeeper payments before they are reimbursed. Any payment they cant make on time will not be reimbursed by the ATO but the small business will still be liable to pay the employee or the whole business will be completely removed from the Jobkeeper scheme. The reason the jobkeeper reimbursement is so time critical for many employers is because they have very little business income either because they are shut down or trading in limited circumstances but still have to pay full wages to non subsidised staff because they are the only ones that will accept shifts. Bars, restaurants and cafes are the businesses most effected by the shut-down and the businesses that employ casual staff. Casual staff cannot be sacked for refusing to work shifts and they can be on jobkeeper with one employer while working on a casual basis for another. Casual workers simply refuse shifts with their Jobkeeper employer while working casually for another employer, who is probably in the same boat desperately looking for staff because their Jobkeeper casuals will not work for them. Students etc are onto this. The way to play the game is refuse shifts with your jobkeeper employer while earning a normal fortnights casual wage from another employer. There is a $750 a week incentive not to work for the employer that is paying you jobkeeper. Meantime the poor caf owner has to bank roll the jobkeeper and pay Accountants for all the admin, while trying to find new staff whos wages will not be subsidised because they are employed after 1st March, 2020. This is dole bludging on steroids. More than twice as much as the dole for not working and it is not reduced in anyway by money you do earn from working. No these are not one offs, it is across the industry. One of the many examples that our government have no idea what they are doing when it comes to supporting the economy, with our taxpayer dollars. Jobkeeper is not keeping staff and employers together, it is driving a wedge between them and doing nothing more than putting an extra financial burden on small business at the same time as unprecedently restricting their ability to earn a living. Under the one in all in rule there is no way an employer can refuse to pay Jobkeeper to a casual even though they are working elsewhere. If they dont pay these dole bludgers on steroids the business will lose payments for all their staff and themselves.

03.01.2022 Virtual Tax Returns A short video on what you can expect in our zoom tax return preparation service and electronic signing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5HzbzaZfkM&feature=emb_logo For more details https://www.bantacs.com.au/virtual-tax-returns/

03.01.2022 Newsflash 354 is out now! Free newsletter with the latest on Jobkeeper and Cash Flow bonus as well as some interesting property related questions and answers from Askbantacs. https://www.bantacs.com.au//uplo/2020/08/Newsflash-354.pdf

03.01.2022 Monday Money Talk with Noel Whittaker Its important to have an updated and valid will, but many people dont understand that certain assets fall outside the wi...ll. These include money in superannuation, insurance bonds, and assets held as joint tenants. Joint tenancies are known in law as "will substitutes", inasmuch as they take the place of a will and even have precedence over the will. If an asset (such as a house) is held in joint tenancy the entire asset passes to the survivor on death of the other joint tenant irrespective of what the will states. This happens even if the deceased dies intestate, in which case the balance of the estate is divided in terms of the laws of intestacy. If assets are held as tenants in common the part owned by the deceased may be transferred in terms of their will. The major challenge in this area is that the law is continually changing, the outcome may well depend on which state you live in, and most peoples circumstances are fluid. Relationships change, people may die or become incapacitated, and some assets may be sold and other ones acquired. To make it more confusing, some assets form part of the estate and some dont. Obviously, one of the major issues you may have to face is uncertainty. For example, historically it was recognised that when one of the joint owners of an asset held in joint names died, the asset automatically passed to the surviving owner irrespective of the terms of the will. Yet, in 2020, in a leading case in New South Wales, the New South Wales Court of Appeal handed down judgement of Cowap v Cowap in such a manner as the deceaseds will was effectively ignored. Geoffrey Cowap died in December 2015, and was survived by his wife Barbara of 57 years. At the time of his death they had five children between them, and she had several children from a previous marriage including Nicholas who was adopted by Geoffrey. The couples only significant asset was the family home worth $1.35 million. As it was held in joint names it automatically passed to the widow on Geoffreys death. The estate was virtually worthless as the house had passed automatically to Barbara. However, Nicholas had suffered a series of heart attacks in May 2016 that left him with permanent brain injuries that prevented him from working and from being self-sufficient. He sued the estate in order to get a share of the value of the house, even though it was not part of the estate. The primary judges decision, after weighing each partys needs against one another, ruled that even though Geoffrey and Barbara had been joint tenants the law in New South Wales permitted the court to claw back the property and call it part of Geoffreys notional estate. The Court of Appeal agreed with the primary judge. The court ordered the house be sold, and $600,000 of the proceeds be awarded to Nicholas on the grounds of his need. At the time of the appeal judgement Nicholas was 64 and Barbara was 91. A legal friend tells me that these changes were introduced to address what the lawmakers in NSW saw as a festering issue in estates in that state put succinctly inheritance avoidance particularly arising out of blended families, as in your readers case. The classic concerning scenario was where a rich partner, during their life, transferred assets to their poorer second partner thereby reducing their assets and, as a consequence, their estate and giving a disincentive for any child to challenge their Will. They also saw this law as a way of enshrining the age old moral obligation for parents to provide for their children in their wills unless there was a very good reason not to do so. Noel Whittaker is the author of Making Money Made Simple and numerous other books on personal finance. [email protected]

02.01.2022 One of our Askbantacsers has very generously allowed their question and answer to be published. If you are selling vacant land you need to consider GST witholding even if you are not registered for GST. This question is an excellent example. A discussion between and Accountant and Solicitor. https://taxquestions.com.au/gst-withholding-clause-when-se/

02.01.2022 How is that for a rental return. Buy a house for $60,000 and rent it out for between $200 and $240 per week. https://www.abc.net.au//home-in-outback-qld-on-sa/12639928

02.01.2022 Trusts Owning Property In NSW - 31st December Deadline The 31st December, 2020 is a very important deadline for owners of NSW residential property. If your trust deed has not been amended, by this date, to exclude foreign beneficiaries then you are locked in, it will be forever be considered a foreign trust and subject to pay surcharge stamp duty (additional 8% on the purchase price) and land tax (additional 2% each year) on residential property in NSW. An amendment t...o a deed after 31st December, 2020 will not be effective. Never risk using an old trust deed to buy residential property in NSW. Generally, it is a better idea to set up a new trust for every property you buy, anyway. Trusts that own property in NSW should have already received a letter from the state revenue office warning them to change their deed as this law has been around since 2016, it is just the final date for amendment that is coming up. We originally advised clients about this in Newsflash 317. If you own NSW residential property in a discretionary trust and haven’t yet done so please contact us or your solicitor urgently. Deeds created in the last couple of years should already have the necessary clauses The problem is that by default, any discretionary trust that owns residential property in NSW, will be considered a foreign trust, unless a trust deed specifically prevents a foreign person from being a beneficiary of the trust. It is not just enough to exclude any foreign resident from being a beneficiary there must be a clause stating that the deed can never be amended to include a foreign beneficiary in the future. A foreign resident for this purpose has nothing to do with tax residency it is more about citizenship and right to live here. There is a carve out for New Zealanders on certain visas and an Australian citizen living overseas is not caught out as a foreigner. For full details of a foreigner for this purpose go to https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/help-/resources-library/g009 This problem extends to companies and unit trusts, that own NSW residential property, if their shares or units are owned by a discretionary trust. See more

01.01.2022 Actively Available for Rent The ATO is always on the look out for non commercial rentals that are negatively geared, to argue that in some way you are intentionally jeopardising your chances of finding a tenant. Suggesting you want to keep the place for your own use but still claim the expenses as a tax deduction. One area they look at is how actively you are advertising the place for rent. In the case of holiday rentals we have seen them question why it is not li...sted with all online accommodation web sites. One thing for sure is if your property is empty they will want to know what actions you have taken to obtain a tenant, for example advertising. Due to COVID the ATO have relaxed this a little refer https://www.ato.gov.au//Supp/Residential-rental-property/ After all if you are in Victoria in stage 4 lock down it is a bit pointless to spend money on advertising a holiday rental. But dont let this lead you into a false sense of security. Once you are one on one with an auditor the onus will be on you to prove there was no point in advertising your property for rent and that you didnt use it for your own purposes. If your property is not a holiday rental, dont just assume. Some of the worse hit places still have strong demand for more permanent rentals, in fact some non CBD areas have vacancy rates below 1% as people escape the cities. If your property is vacant it would be worth checking the vacancy rate here https://sqmresearch.com.au/graph_vacancy.php and keeping it in your tax records. See more