Recent content by Richard Hunt

You can get a "head up" of the Australian tax implications for Australian citizens working overseas who own Australian investment properties by reviewing the links in the "last message" at this earlier thread: Web guides for offshore investors with Australian rental properties

No, I'm not saying that! The interest will not be deductible to the extent that there is a Part IVA arrangement. To establish whether this is the case in a particular situation would depend on the particular facts. Split loan arrangements of the type in Hart's case are but one example of a...

Hypertext links to web guides now working in this post - apologies! Hypertext links to web guides now working in this post - apologies! I originally posted this in the "How do I account for foreign property" thread. However, as the Quickstart guides are actaully relevant to offshore...

The question of the extent to which the interest capitalized will be an allowable deduction was recently re-visited by the courts in Hart's case. Apart from looking at the issue of whether split loan facilities were caught by the general anti-avoidance provisions (Part IVA) of the tax...

I originally posted this in the "How do I account for foreign property" thread. However, as the Quickstart guides are actaully relevant to offshore investors with Australian investment property, I've taken the liberty to re-publish them under a more appropriate thread title! My apologies. I...

With a significant minority of our clients representing offshore investors into Australia (ie either Aust citizens living & working overseas or foreign nationals) and having to field the same general questions each time, I finally bit the bullet recently and developed some simple "Quickstart...

The six year rule allows you the option to continue to treat your apartment as your PPOR for "CGT purposes" even though you no longer actually live in it. Where you rent the property during your absence you can effectively continue to treat it as your PPOR for "CGT purposes" for a maximum period...

Hi Goddess, Sure, things may have been structured better in the past, but at least the changes to your personal life and the consequential financial decisions you are now forced to contemplate will provide you with opportunities to "set things right" and optimise your financial structures...

..and just to add, further to my point above about your "partner's attitudes on an acceptable level of ongoing discretionery income", remember that a 30 year P&I loan under both of your scenarios will have very different "minimum repayments" and interest expense profiles. For example, a $145k...

The better return on the $70,000 is for it to be utilised to reduce the debt exposure on the IP purchase. Whether this is by way of "larger loan/offset combination" or "smaller loan/cash deposit" may be influenced by a number of factors including servicability and your partner's attitudes on an...

When reviewing your acquisition, renovation, hold/sell plan, remember also to be mindful that any such systematic and regular activity may subject any profits on disposal as "ordinary income" for taxation purposes and not as capital gains. Without the benefit of the 50% CGT discount you will...

What RolfL said above, plus... put St george on your radar screen with Suncorp/Wespac as they will also offer the 0.7% discount at lower total borrowings than previously due to increased competition. No annual package fee with St George, reduced upfront application fees but pay monthly a/c...

Irrespective of the position outlined in the ATO's interpretative decision, the flexibility and administration benefits flowing from a segregation of the financing of different activities and acquisitions (eg. home purchase, shares, IP, other acquiistions) would be considerable. It also avoids...

All I'm saying is that the financing of an IP purchase by drawing down funds from a LOC and subsequently refinacing into a "loan with an attached offset a/c", is a less riskier proposition than your proposal to initially draw down funds from a loan, deposit them into an offset a/c and...

I don't believe this is a particularly prudent course of action because it interposes an extra layer of complexity into the property acquistion transaction that may raise arguments about the deductibility of the borrowings. For example, the initial "parking" of loan funds into the offset...