what do you claim?

[JustaDreamer]

Was reading a book last night saying you can claim books, newspapers, magazines, computers, printers, ink, internet access etc reguarding investing i had heard most of this before. But justing wondering how many of you really do it and is it worth it saying keeping the receipts during the year for the odd $30 book or $10 magazine on investing.


Mat.
Advance to st andrews way if you pass go collect $200

 

[The Y-man]

wondering how many of you really do it and is it worth it saying keeping the receipts during the year for the odd $30 book or $10 magazine on investing.

We collect everything - it all adds up - books, magazines, travel, accomodaiton, meals, postage stamps, gifts, toners, stationery....


Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[LynnH]

Same as Y-man - everything! It might not seem a large amount each year, but over many years of property investing it sure adds up to be quite a tidy sum. Better in your pocket ...

Cheers
LynnH

 

[The Y-man]

Put it this way - if you saw even $2 sitting on the ground - do you pick it up, or do you say "ah, it's only $2!" and walk by...

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[Rob Williams]

It takes almost no effort to obtain receipts for mags etc and no effort to kepe them. If you keep them in an organised way, it takes little effort to add them up at tax time. Having some sort of simple filing system really helps.
Even the small ones add up each year. Multiply the benefits year after year and YES, it is worthwhile.
The largest waterfall begins with a single drop.
That's my (non-deductable) 2 cents worth.

Rob

 

[slades]

what do you claim

And if its all kept in one dedicated room of your house called a home office, dont forget the cost of electricity, heating and cleaning to run it is also claimable. Thats a few more cents to add. Oh and if you are in a rental yourself as I am, you can claim a proprtionate part of your rent as well.

 

[JustaDreamer]

Slades yeah friend of mine was talking about the same thing using a room as an office then invite your accountant, banker, real estate agant over say your having a meeting and then you start claiming tea, coffee, milk, bisckets and toilet paper as a tax deduction.

 

[TheBacon]

Slades yeah friend of mine was talking about the same thing using a room as an office then invite your accountant
... [snip] ...

and then you start claiming [snip] toilet paper as a tax deduction.

So if I invite my accountant over I can claim toilet paper? There’s a joke there somewhere… J

 

[imonmyway]

And if its all kept in one dedicated room of your house called a home office, dont forget the cost of electricity, heating and cleaning to run it is also claimable. Thats a few more cents to add. Oh and if you are in a rental yourself as I am, you can claim a proprtionate part of your rent as well.

I think if you start claiming against your own property you are up for CGT when you sell, not sure about this but thats what I heard

 

[The Y-man]

I think if you start claiming against your own property you are up for CGT when you sell, not sure about this but thats what I heard

I believe you are up for CGT on the portion that was claimed as office.

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[TheBacon]

I believe you are up for CGT on the portion that was claimed as office.

Cheers,

The Y-man

OK, correct me if I'm wrong, I though you are only up for CGT if you claim depreciation or interest as office/business costs. If you just claim proportionate power consumption, consumables, toilet paper, etc then there is no CGT implication.

Can anyone clarify?

TB

 

[geoffw]

Was reading a book last night saying you can claim books, newspapers, magazines, computers, printers, ink, internet access etc reguarding investing i had heard most of this before. But justing wondering how many of you really do it and is it worth it saying keeping the receipts during the year for the odd $30 book or $10 magazine on investing.

My advice has been- not quite.

I can calim for the "business use" of consumables, internet etc- so if you read newspapers or games sites some of the time, you couldn't claim that portion. It is your own estimate only- but you will need to justify what you claim.

For magazines or books- it may depend on your current investing activities and the content. If you were a buy and hold investor for instance, and the book was about wrapping (vendor finance) you would not be able to claim the book. If you went to a course, or bought a book, where only 25% of the content related to your current investing activities, that's all you could claim. Magazines typically have very little about only your current investing activity, so my advice in the past has been that I could not claim them, as most of the content was not related to my investing activity- despite one of the articles being about me and my investing activity

ATO have completely disallowed newspapers for me in the past because there is a private portion of newspapers. This was when I was in computing, and the Tuesday Australian used to have 75% computing content.

 

[boods99]

OK, correct me if I'm wrong, I though you are only up for CGT if you claim depreciation or interest as office/business costs. If you just claim proportionate power consumption, consumables, toilet paper, etc then there is no CGT implication.

Can anyone clarify?

TB

Im with TheBacon...
No CGT as you are not actually claiming on the value of your house, only the utilities...
You can still claim the interest in proportion to the area of the office, however, when it comes time to sell...ATO wants their share
Theres no such thing as a free lunch