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Tax Office To Check On Property Investors

September 17, 2013

filing tax returns This year the tax office will breathe fire on property investors. Each stratum of investor- newbie, mid-sized portfolio holders, investors high on net worth- will be covered in the crackdown, says Michael Yardney in an article for the Property Update.

After all, the Tax Office has found its talisman- a vast repertoire of property data that was lying with the State Revenue Office for long. The records collected online can help in tackling the logistic challenges of such a big crackdown.

Being transparent and morally correct is the way out of the situation. If you are a new owner of rental property, file your returns carefully and in time. If you are a high net worth individual, remember that audits for your hierarchy have shot up from 680 to 1500.

Ambiguous payments made to contractors, nepotistic dealings made with kith and kin, and subtle transfers made via SMSFs, may all stand in the line of tax penalties.

You can read the whole article here.

Are you an expat investing in Australian properties? Have you checked with the Tax Office?

Global Firms Wooing Australian Commercial Properties

September 16, 2013

Australia is turning out to be the blue-eyed baby of the commercial property market worldwide. YIP for the online magazine Your Investment Property suggests that roughly $18.5 billion is heading towards Australia via orders placed by 50 offshore firms.

Baby Boomers Invading The FHB Market With SMSFs

September 13, 2013

Self managed super fund The generation closing on retirement (or retired) is making rapid inroads into the First Home Buyer Market. Their self-managed super fund is proving to be of great assistance in this regard. Yeah! I would any day lay a bet on that kind of fund getting the better of paltry resources that first home buyers have (despite the Grants). Peter Sarmas for the StreetNews reports that SMSF-aided investors have grown double-fold whereas FHB numbers have come down by half since last year.

Investors from the generation of baby boomers are a strong presence at the auctions. Buoyed by low interest rates, they are easily outbidding the first home buyers.

The value of residences in capital cities have grown by nearly 7% since the trough they hit in May 2012. This is also a trigger for the baby boomer generation which has enough money stacked up their sleeve.

You can read the full article here.

Are you investing in some equity release product (reverse mortgage and their likes)?

Superannuation Concessional Cap Raised By $10,000

August 7, 2013

The salary you sacrifice will reap super dividends for you and more quickly so if you are nearing 60 or already over it, reports Noel Whittaker for “The Observer”.

The superannuation concessional cap has been raised from $25,000 a year to $35,000 a year. So what does it mean in practice? You know that your employer is expected to put 9.25% of your yearly salary into your superannuation fund.

For somebody earning $100,000 a year, this amounts to only $9,250 so additionally that employee can now put $25,750 instead of $15,750 (which would have been the case had the concessional cap remained at $25,000) into his super.

While the salary he sacrifices definitely reduces his ‘take home’ (short-term loss) but the boost his superannuation fund gets outweighs the loss in “take home’ as well as the taxes he needs to pay on the contribution.

In this regard, Transition to Retirement (TTR) pensions can also come handy.

You can read the original article here.

What To Do If You Fail A Property Settlement Date

July 17, 2013

Rob Balanda for the Property Update advises how buyers should act if a real estate deal fails being closed on its intended date of settlement.

In cases when you do not show up on the property settlement date, sellers get one-up on the buyers and often quote a higher price (let us say $100,000 more than the agreed amount). Buyers give in, fearful of the Breach of Contract nightmares. However, the best way to go ahead is to engage your solicitor.

Let the seller or his solicitor know about the delay (and purely banking reasons for it). In the event of their asking for a higher sum, politely refuse citing paucity of cash. Do so over phone rather than through a letter.

If they do not agree,lure them with the ‘deposit’ bait. Tell them that you are ready to free the deposit amount right then instead of paying at the time of settlement.

If they act fastidious, go one notch higher on negotiation- tell them that you are ready to increase the deposit amount (do not increase the amount more than the penalty they are seeking, in this case less than $100,000).

Your solicitor will invariably take care of the situation and you won’t need to cough up a higher purchase rate.

You can read the original article here.

Population Growth Has Triggered Housing Demand

July 10, 2013

Tim Lawless for the investment strategy blog “Property Update” reports that housing demand has hit the highest mark in the last 3 years. This has lot to do with annual population growth hovering near 1.75% for the last quarter of 2012.

Population growth has piggybacked on overseas migration and natural increase (number of deaths subtracted by number of births). Lawless says that it is the overseas migration which has contributed as much as 60% to population growth in recent times.

He also offers a state-wise report which suggests that Tasmania and South Australia have been backbenchers in terms of population growth while Victoria and Queensland are among the toppers.

The Federal Budget and changes in labour quota is expected to bring down the overseas migration, believes Lawless.

You can read the original article here.

Do you think that the interstate flow of migrants will increase for Sydney this year?

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