If you haven’t owned your investment property for a full year you can still claim depreciation deductions this tax time.

Investors can claim pro-rata depreciation deductions for the period their property is rented out or is genuinely available for rent. That is, the property is given broad exposure to potential tenants and considering all the circumstances tenants are reasonably likely to rent the property.

Quantity surveyors use legislative tools like applying the immediate write-off rule and adding eligible assets to a low-value pool to make partial year claims more beneficial to new investment property owners.

An immediate write-off applies to any item within an investment property with a value of less than $300, regardless of how long the property has been owned and rented. As an investor, you’re entitled to write-off the full amount of the asset in the first year.

Low-value pooling is a method of depreciating plant and equipment assets which have a value of less than $1,000. Any plant and equipment assets with a value of less than $1,000 can be included in a low-value pool and written off at an accelerated rate to maximise deductions. Item can be depreciated at 18.75 per cent in the first year and 37.5 per cent each year thereafter.

Two types of depreciable assets can be allocated to a low-value pool:

• Low cost asset: a depreciable asset that has an opening value of less than $1,000 in the year of acquisition
• Low value asset: a depreciable asset that has an opening value of greater than $1,000 in the year of acquisition but the value after depreciating over time is now less than $1,000. This will only apply if you’ve previously used the diminishing value method.

To ensure all depreciation deductions are claimed correctly for the period a property is income producing or available for rent, investors should request a tax depreciation schedule.

A BMT Tax Depreciation Schedule will outline all qualifying deductions from the date of settlement and include a partial year depreciation claim that is calculated pro-rata based on the time the property is rented.

Article provided by BMT Tax Depreciation.

Bradley Beer (B. Con. Mgt, AAIQS, MRICS, AVAA) is the Chief Executive Officer of BMT Tax Depreciation.
Please contact 1300 728 726 or visit www.bmtqs.com.au for an Australia wide service.