Your investments germinate from your hard earned savings. You hope some day they will bear fruit of financial rewards. As your accountants we help you choose the right investments, protect them and structure them in the most tax effective way while.
Negative gearing is all about getting tax back on your investment losses (holding costs). You spend a dollar (say on loan interest) and get 30cents or 40cents back. Thus in effect you are out of pocket by 60c or 70c for each dollar spent on your investment (called your holding cost). This strategy works if that investment grows in value (capital appreciation) more than you lose each year in holding costs. Wouldn't you be better off if your investment was actually making money each year and growing up in value, even if this meant you pay a little bit of tax? This is called positive gearing. We can help you identify which form of investment would work better for you.
While the main objective of an investment should grow wealth, by holding them in the right ownership structures you can maximise it's tax benefits. Ownerships need not always be in higher tax paying spouse. Could be in lower tax paying spouse (to avoid big CGT bill), investment unit trusts, companies or discretionary family trusts.
Considered from the eye of the tax man, there are two kinds of mortgages. The good ones, where you can claim the interest in tax and the bad ones where the interest is not tax deductible. To make your mortgage work for you, you should be able to maximise your good loans and minimise bad ones. Read more in our AboutTax Volume 4 Oct 2009
You've worked hard all your life and built some investments. It is but natural to want to protect these from various risks, including risks of your profession or business. If held in your name, it is highly likely that your investments would be attached to such risks. Holding assets in smart structures like discretionary investment trusts could help you to protect your assets.
Every investment has a lead time. It is best to sell your investment when it is perceived to have reached its' peak. Of course this is a million dollar question. Taking expert advise and doing some research is the way to go. Sale of your investments could result in capital gains tax liabilities. We can help assess and minimise these using some cutting edge strategies.
An area traditionally managed by financial planners, we, as your accountants, can surely help you make initial assessments of options available & tax implications.
As a thumb rule, you shouldn't borrow if you don't need to. Against conventional wisdom, the reality is, even if you claim your interest in tax, you only get a part of it back. The objective should be to reduce your bad loan (non tax deductible) and increase your good loan (tax deductible) without increasing your total borrowings. We can review your total investment plan and help you set your investments and borrowings correctly to ensure you achieve this. AboutTax Vol. 4, October 2009
This is traditionally a financial planner's area of expertise. As your accountants we can help you assess your situation, understand options, and then, if required, help you get in touch with an expert.
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