What are commercial plant and equipment depreciation deductions?

WHEN YOUR SPECIALIST QUANTITY SURVEYOR tells you that you can claim depreciation on almost anything, they mean it. [Read more…]

When Buying … Why Would You Accept a Passing Yield Lower Than Market Level?

ON THE FACE OF IT … there’s no logical reason why you would.

Unless of course, you were intending to occupy the property when the current lease expires. In which case, the initial low rental is really of little (or no) importance to you. [Read more…]

Handling Depreciation for Commercial Mixed-use Developments

YOU WILL FIND Commercial properties come in all shapes and sizes.

Office towers, warehouses, the local café, and farms are all examples of commercial properties. The flexibility and sheer size of commercial properties can offer investors the opportunity to own mixed-use commercial property.  [Read more…]

Why is Everyone Surprised at Our Speedy Recovery?

IF YOU REMEMBER back to last May and June of last year, I explained that the economic decline caused by COVID was quite different from any other recessions.

What we experienced was a Medical Crisis with economic implications. As opposed to a total collapse of the Financial System – as you experienced during the GFC. [Read more…]

Commercial Depreciation Tips to Boost Your Cash Bottom-line

STRUGGLING TO WRAP your head around everything to do with commercial depreciation? 

Good thing is that you don’t need to know everything, that’s what the experts like BMT Tax Depreciation are for. The team has shared their top five commercial depreciation tips to help you claim more deductions. 

1. Factor Depreciation into your Purchasing decision

While considerations like your overall investment strategy and budget come first, depreciation is another important factor when deciding on your purchase. 

Depreciation will be one of the highest deductions you can claim from your investment property. It can be the make-or-break between a positive and negative cash flow, and often makes a significant difference to your back pocket. 

2. Understand Eligibility Requirements

Know what you can and can’t claim by getting a depreciation estimate completed by a specialist quantity surveyor. 

Factors that impact the eligibility of claiming capital works deductions include the construction or improvement date, and the structure or fixed asset type. For example, you could claim depreciation on a concrete driveway, but not on a gravel one. 

Eligibility requirements can be trickier for plant and equipment assets. Each plant and equipment asset has its own effective life, and this can change based on industries.

This means you may be eligible to claim depreciation on some assets longer than others. Some incentives that also apply to these assets such as the temporary full expensing policy are only available to businesses, not commercial landlords that don’t operate a business. 

3. Know what you can Claim Sooner

Depreciation differs between capital works assets and plant and equipment assets. Differences also apply between varying plant and equipment categories – a dishwasher doesn’t depreciate in the same way as a smoke alarm.  

The effective lives and rates of depreciation determine how much you can claim now and in the future. 

Let’s use a real example to demonstrate just how big a difference knowing this can make. 

4. Don’t fall for the Myths 

There are a number of myths surrounding depreciation in the commercial real estate market. Falling for these can result in thousands of dollars missed, so it’s important to get the facts and claim what you can throughout your property’s lifecycle. 

The first misconception is that a commercial property may too old to hold depreciation, but this is hardly ever the case.

Any commercial property where construction commenced after 20 July 1982 will allow the owner to claim capital works as well as any eligible plant and equipment assets. 

Even if the property was constructed before this date, capital works could still be available on any improvements made by the current or previous owner. For example, if a roof had to be replaced in 1995 then the current owner could still claim this deduction. 

The second myth is that 2017 legislation changes apply to commercial properties, but this isn’t the case.

An owner can still claim depreciation on previously-used plant and equipment assets they now own. This includes any un-deducted value on assets the owner removes such as a previous tenant’s fit-out. 

Bottom Line: The secret to claiming the highest depreciation deductions is found in consulting with a tax depreciation specialist. 

BMT has been operating in the commercial and residential industries for over twenty years and has helped hundreds of thousands of people pay less tax.

How Will COVID Affect CBD Office Vacancy Rates?

IN LATE JANUARY, the Property Council of Australia released its 6-monthly summary of CBD vacancy rates around Australia.

And not surprisingly, there has been an increase across the board – following a slow return of office work, as a result of COVID. [Read more…]

Do You Really Understand The Fundamentals of Commercial Depreciation?

AS YOU’RE PROBABLY aware, BMT Tax Depreciation has been providing depreciation services to commercial owners and tenants for over 20 years.

During this time, their team has ensured these businesses maximise these returns by claiming millions in tax deductions.

Despite being the only non-cash deduction you have available, many investors are not making the most of the opportunity – or in some cases, not even claiming it at all. [Read more…]

Looking at Commercial Property Post-COVID

CLEARLY, THE WINNER throughout 2020 has been warehousing and logistics – due to the massive surgeon online shopping, during the pandemic. And hopefully, that will eventually flow on to bricks-and-mortar retailing.

The other impact of online shopping has been the increased demand for cloud computing and information storage. And in turn, this has seen growth in demand for data centres. [Read more…]

Did You Realise You Can Boost Your Commercial Investment Cash Flow through Scrapping?

RENOVATING A COMMERCIAL PROPERTY can have a number of benefits – like increasing value, improving the functionality and attracting new tenants. 

However, commercial property owners and tenants can literally throw away cash when they are renovating.  [Read more…]

Why Not Take Advantage of Record-breaking Incentives?

THE 2020-21 FEDERAL BUDGET introduced a number of new, temporary measures. The focus is to help boost the Australian economy out of this pandemic-induced recession, drive investment and to create more jobs. 

This budget announced record-breaking incentives that are now available for businesses located Australia wide.  [Read more…]

The Rapid Recovery Should NOT Come as a Surprise

YOU MAY RECALL back in May and July, I foreshadowed a quick recovery would occur – as soon as we emerged from lockdown.

You see, what we’ve just been through, is a medical crisis with financial implications. NOT a total financial collapse – like we had during the GFC.

As such, “Demand” didn’t disappear … it simply got deferred. And you’ve already observed that with consumers now engaging in “Retail revenge” – as depicted in the graphic below (AFR, front page: 3 Dec 2020).

During the pandemic my clients seemed to fall into two camps:

  • Those who feared a total collapse, with a prolonged recovery.
  • Those who listened and saw the opportunity to secure a good property, while the market itself remained confused.

Already you are seeing eager buyers re-entering the property market (both residential and commercial) – with prices on the rise once more.

Therefore, those who did buy during the pandemic are now having their faith vindicated. And now, the strength of this renewed demand is bringing more properties onto the market.

Therein, Lies Your Next Opportunity

Not all the properties coming onto the market during November & December can be absorbed before Christmas.

Naturally, this will make those vendors somewhat unsettled – because the commercial market doesn’t officially reopen again until February/March.

So, if you are cashed up and able to move quickly … there should be a number of good choices for you early in the New Year.

Bottom Line: What I’m planning to do is compile a list of those unsold properties for my clients. And then, we’ll quietly sift through these opportunities together – to help clients secure several genuine bargains.

If that could be of interest to you … just let me know.