Archive for the 'Tax' Category
New Year Tax Resolutions
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007Now is the time of the year where you make all your New Year resolutions. Lose weight, get fit, paint the house, do the garden, give up smoking, give up chocolate.
You should also take time out to make a tax resolution:
I will keep all my work related receipts and they will be in one place, easy […]
When is a uniform not a uniform for taxation purposes?
Monday, December 4th, 2006The larger department stores require their staff to wear only black and white. Black pants or skirt, white or black shirt. Many restaurants have a similar clothing policy, often a black shirt and trousers.
It’s a uniform.
However, when you show up at your tax office with all the dry cleaning/laundry receipts, what does your tax agent […]
What is negative gearing? An example
Tuesday, November 28th, 2006You hear so much about negative gearing, but how exactly does it work?
Suppose you take out a loan for an investment property. Repayments are $2,000 per month.
You rent the house to a tenant, who pays $1,200 per month.
You have to find an extra $800 per month out of your own pocket just to cover the […]
Negative gearing seems to have fallen out of fashion
Thursday, November 23rd, 2006For a while there everyone seemed to be getting into negative gearing, including the investors where I worked. The advice to negatively gear came from financial planners, from newspapers, from magazines.
Where I worked we had an informal club of investors—people who actively traded shares or invested in property. We sat down one day and discussed our investments. […]
Tax and investment properties
Saturday, November 11th, 2006So you want to buy an investment property, and want to know the best way to do it from a taxation point of view.
Here are some pointers.
A disclaimer first. Just because these work from a taxation point of view doesn’t mean they’re optimal. In fact, as you will see, sometimes they are the opposite. You […]
The tax season is over for me — hooray
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006Finally getting used to the idea that the tax season is over for me. I have some time (at least I will once I catch up on all those things I put off until the end of the tax season).
You can no longer do your own return on line. Most tax agents have closed. But […]
Finally got my own tax return done
Monday, October 30th, 2006You’ve heard about the builder whose house is always in disrepair; the plumber whose taps always need washers. Well guess what.
Finally got my tax return done—11:30 Sunday night.
That’s two days early, but that’s because I know I’m doing 12 hour days at the office Monday and Tuesday (30 and 31st October.)
Multiple year tax returns
Sunday, October 29th, 2006I cannot believe the number of multiple year returns we have got in the last few days. Almost every person who comes in has two, three, four years of returns to do.
I know what has ‘motivated’ them. Many of them come in clutching letters from the ATO. “You haven’t done your tax return … please […]
Final date for lodgement of your tax return is approaching fast
Tuesday, October 24th, 200631 October is the final date for lodging your tax returns.
The tax agents and accountants are very busy right now. If you haven’t done your tax return yet, start getting serious about it.
First though—was last year’s tax return done by a tax agent or accountant? Are you planning on going back to them this year? […]
Employee Share Acquisition (ESAP) taxation election form
Wednesday, October 18th, 2006Suppose you work f or a company that pays its bonus in shares.
Your company shares are worth $25 each.
This year you get a bonus of $1,000, paid as 40 company shares. Your total outlay—$0.
Two years later the shares are worth $40 each. You decide to sell them. You pocket $2,000.
How much capital gain have you […]