What depreciation property investors can now claim: Nine key insights from the draft legislation: Tyron Hyde

GUEST OBSERVER

The property market has finally received some clarity in relation to the Government’s plan to reduce depreciation deductions for residential properties. It’s good news too, if you ask me. 

On Friday 14th July, the Treasury Office released a draft bill regarding how depreciation deductions on second-hand property can be claimed moving forward. They also invited interested parties to make submissions.

It's complicated to say the least, so I’ve tried to simplify this Bill and the key points. Here are my 9 Key Takeaways from the draft Legislation;

1. If you acquire a second-hand residential property after May 10, 2017, which contains “previously used” depreciating assets, you will no longer be able to claim depreciation on those assets.

2. Acquirers of brand new property will carry on claiming depreciation exactly the way they have done so to date. This is great news for the property industry and the way it should be.

We suspected this would be the case and I believe the property industry can collectively breathe a sigh of relief. 

3. The proposed changes only relate to residential property. Commercial, industrial, retail and other non-residential properties are not affected in the slightest. 

4.  The building allowance or claims on the structure of the building has not changed at all. You will still need a Depreciation Schedule to calculate these deductions. This component typically represents approximately between 80 to 85 percent of the construction cost of a property.

5. The proposed changes do not apply if you buy the property in a corporate tax entity, super fund (note Self-Managed Super Funds do not apply here) or a large unit trust.

This is interesting and I suspect a lot more people will start buying properties in company tax structures.

6. If you engage a builder to build a house and it remains an investment property, you will still be able to claim depreciation on both the structure and the Plant and Equipment items. 

7. If you renovate a property that is being used as an investment, you will still be able to claim depreciation on it when you have finished the renovations.

8. If you renovate a house, whilst living it in, then sell the property to an investor, the asset will be deemed to have been previously used and the new owner cannot claim depreciation.

9. Perhaps the most interesting point: Whilst investors purchasing second-hand property can now no longer claim depreciation on the existing plant and equipment, they will have the benefit of paying less capital gains tax when they sell the property. 

How? Well, in summary, what you would’ve been able to claim in depreciation under the previous legislation, now simply gets taken off the sale price in the event you sell the property in the future.

Here is an example of how this will work: 

Peter buys a property in September 2017 for $600k, included within the property was $25k worth of previously used depreciating assets.

As they were previously used, Peter can’t claim depreciation on those items.

Peter sells the property in 2022 for $800k, which included $15k worth of those depreciation assets.

Peter can now claim a capital loss of $10k ($25k-$15k) for the portion that Peter has not claimed in depreciation.

SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED CHANGES

In my view the Draft Bill could've been a lot worse for both the property industry and the Quantity Surveying professions.

It will certainly address the integrity measure concern of stopping “refreshed” valuations of plant and equipment by property investors.

It may, however, create a two-tier property market in relation to new and second hand property.

You can see the ads now “Buy Brand New - We’ve Got The Depreciation Allowances”. 

It will still be just as critical for all property investors to get a breakdown of the building allowance & plant and equipment values so you can:

A. Claim the building allowance (where applicable) and

B. Reduce the CGT payable when selling the property by deducting the unclaimed Plant and Equipment allowances.

The Quantity Surveying industry, just like the property development industry just breathed a huge sigh of relief.

I believe this integrity measure could've been better addressed and will be making a submission accordingly. 

But it wasn’t a bad ‘first run’ by the Government!

Tyron Hyde is a director of Washington Brown and can be contacted here.