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ATO statistics provide insight for property investors

Depreciation claims still strong despite changes

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) recently released their taxation statistics for the 2015-2016 financial year.

These figures provide insight into the amount of deductions property investors claimed during that financial year.

During the 2015-2016 financial year, just under 3 million property investors claimed deductions relating to their rental property.

Of these investors, 1,381,138 claimed an average capital works deduction of $2,326. This was an increase of 2.71 per cent when compared to the average capital works deductions claimed during the 2014-2015 financial year.

Just over 2 million property investors claimed an average of $1,324 in plant and equipment depreciation deductions during the 2015-2016 financial year according to the ATO statistics. This was a 3.92 per cent increase when compared to the average plant and equipment deduction claimed during 2014-2015.

According to the ATO statistics, investors claimed a total average depreciation deduction of $3,650 during the 2015-2016 financial year. However, BMT Tax Depreciation found our clients an average total depreciation deduction of $9,099 during the same financial year.

Following the changes made to depreciation legislation regarding plant and equipment found in second-hand properties in November 2017, it will be interesting to observe the ATO statistics as they are released for recent financial years.

During 2016-2017, BMT saw a slight decrease in the total average depreciation claim to $8,845. However, this decrease is to an extent due to a number of older properties nearing the end of their forty-year effective life.

We are still finding our clients an average of $8,541 in deductions this year.

Despite the changes that have occurred to depreciation legislation, we are still finding our clients an average of $8,541 in deductions during the 2017-2018 financial year for all residential properties.

Furthermore, those properties directly affected by the changes in depreciation legislation, i.e. second-hand properties where contracts were exchanged after 7.30pm on the 9th of May 2017, still had an average claim of $5,033 in the 2017-2018 financial year.

Contact us today for expert guidance on what you can claim to ensure you’re not missing out on any valuable deductions.