THE AUSTRALIAN Taxation Office (ATO) has released a new tax ruling — effective from the 1st of July 2013.

Tax Ruling 2013/04

Replacing Tax Ruling 2012/2 , Tax Ruling 2013/4 explains the methods you should use when determining the effective lives of depreciating assets.

While Table B of Tax Ruling 2013/4 lists the effective lives of depreciable assets currently recognised by the ATO.

Roll Out of New Effective Lives

The tax ruling in effect at the time you acquired an asset determines the effective life of that asset. Therefore, any changes the ATO have made to the effective lives of assets in Tax Ruling 2013/4 — only affect assets purchased and installed for use after the 1st of July 2013. [Read more…]

SIMPLER DEPRECIATION LAWS have recently been introduced to assist small businesses — which take effect as from the 2012-2013 financial year.

Under GST rules, every Commercial investment property is deemed to be a “going concern” … or in other words, a business. Therefore, you could qualify to benefit from the instant asset write-off threshold having been increased to $6,500.

This new rule allows businesses to write-off any depreciating asset with a total cost less than $6,500.

Previously, the cost threshold was $1,000; and anything over this cost could not be claimed as an instant deduction. [Read more…]