It’s that glorious time of year known as TAX TIME! And generally it’s at this wondrous time that lots of people get confused about what they can and can’t claim as tax deductions. To help you through, we’ve developed a list of deductions that are often overlooked:
Income Protection Insurance
If you pay for insurance premiums against loss of income, those amounts are tax deductible. But be careful, that doesn’t include life insurance, critical care insurance or trauma insurance. It also excludes policies paid for out of your superannuation contributions.
Professional memberships and subscriptions
If you’re a member of a professional or trade association as part of your work, you can claim a deduction for the amount you pay in subscriptions. This also covers union fees if you’re a member of a trade union, as well as subscriptions to trade or professional magazines or – if you’re an investor – subscriptions to financial publications and other research services.
Don’t forget, if you prepay your fees or subscriptions for next year before 30 June, you can claim a deduction this year, which can be a useful timing benefit.
Rental Property Expenses
Most people with a rental property know that you can claim a deduction for the interest element of the mortgage but there are plenty of other tax deductions you can claim on a rental property, many of which are often overlooked. So, if you’ve paid out for any of these costs this year, make sure you claim a deduction:
- gardening and lawn mowing
- bank fees
- pest Control
- security patrol fees
- bookkeeping/secretarial fees
- travel expenses to inspect the property
- maintenance and repairs
- end of lease cleaning costs
- letting agent fees, including marketing
Also, don’t forget to maximise your capital works deductions (basically, the depreciation on the building itself). It can pay dividends to engage a quantity surveyor to come through your property and assess the items you can claim. Often, your claim will be much higher than you thought, with items as diverse as swimming pools, fences and garden furniture all potentially qualifying.
Tax Affairs
If you paid for a tax professional (like Ausure Scone) to complete last year’s tax return, you can claim a deduction for the cost in this year’s return. Better still, you can also claim tax deductions for any travel costs you incurred in getting to and from your agent. If you’ve paid for any tax advice during the year, that too is deductible.
Mobile Phone Expenses
If you use your personal mobile phone for work – either to make or receive calls – you can claim the cost of these calls as tax deductions. You can only claim business related calls so in order to work out the split between business and personal use, keep a diary for at least four weeks in order to work out the business use proportion. For example, if you have a $100 monthly mobile phone plan and you determine – based on your diary – that 25% of your calls are work related, you can claim a deduction for $25 per month, or $300 per year.
Similarly, if you use your home internet service to deal with work related matters, such as responding to work emails, you can also claim a proportion of those costs. Remember, keep a diary.
If you’ve got any questions on anything related to tax just give Ausure a call on 6545 9899.