Why does it matter if vendor has claimed depreciation?

Saw this ad.

Not one I'm thinking of buying, but the statement stood out to me:

"DEPRECIATION NEVER CLAIMED - SUBSTANTIAL TAX BENEFITS"

Why would it make a difference whether or not the vendor has claimed depreciation? Wouldn't the depreciation claimable for a buyer be determined solely by the QS's report for what remains of the buildings' depreciable lifetime? Or are they implying that it being relatively new, you would be able to claim on the full build cost from purchase (rather than an amount reduced by a couple of years) over the allowable lifetime (e.g. 40 years)?

Is it just REA spin and ignorance?
 
Short answer for you is - you can only claim depreciation for the period of time you own it. You can't claim depreciation for the period of time you hadn't owned it (ie can't claim depreciation the previous owner didn't claim).
 
That's what I thought. So the buyer wouldn't care less that depreciation was never claimed. The agent should have worded it "recent build" or "building only x years old - substantial tax benefits from depreciation" or something similar.
 
Depreciation or capital works??

This could actually be referring to capital works, i.e. the remainder of the capital works amounts could be claimed, and as the owner did not claim the capital works there are more for future owners to claim. Strange marketing strategy!

Also it actually depends upon whether you could have claimed the capital works more than whether you actually do so interesting.

If it is depreciation they are referring to - yes strange call.
 
Period of time

Sorry to clarify - you have a period of time, normally 40 years which will be claimable. If the prior owners did not claim capital works, then bad luck for them, as the Capital Gains Tax provisions actually look at whether you could have, not whether you did. But yes for vendor, they don't really care, as it is the period of time, and whether there is any claim for capital works left that is important, i.e. if it was built two years ago then they have another 38 years left to claim capital works, irrespective of whether claimed or not. Surveyors are excellent at working out when the building was built and for how much, and will generally maximise your tax refund for capital works (depreciation of the building) and capital allowances (depreciation of the other stuff, i.e. fridges etc), Again is important to investors as the CGT laws look at whether you COULD have claimed the capital allowance, not whether you actually did.
 
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