Can Depreciation on My Rental Property Be Back-Claimed?
Several property investors are not fully aware of the tax benefits they can claim from their rental property. As per ATO rules, a certified quantity surveyor can help such investors reduce their tax burden. This is on account of the depreciation on their property every year. A quantity surveyor can help them make a detailed tax depreciation schedule for rental property. This would then help reduce their taxable income. As a result, the annual tax also gets reduced. Were you aware of this? If so, then you must be claiming the due depreciation tax benefit every year. But things not stopped here. Let’s say you missed claiming the depreciation on your rental property in some previous year. You might have given up that tax deduction as lost forever. But that is not correct. You can also back-claim your depreciation benefits on rental property. Read all about it here.
How Many Years Are Back-Claims Permitted?
This would have been the first question in your mind by now. The ATO has different sets of rules for different categories of taxpayers. If you are an individual taxpayer or the owner of a small business, then you can back-claim missed returns of the last two years. For other categories of taxpayers, this period is four years. For all these periods, the date of calculation is important. ATO guidelines state that the date of notice for tax assessment is the date from when the period is considered. In case you haven’t got any notice, then the date you filed your incomplete return is considered. Also, for the same period, you can submit more than one request for amendment.
The Process for Back-Claim of Previous Years
The process begins with a simple request for amendment made to the ATO, which is free of cost. After that, you need to wait for the ATO to send you the notice for submitting the amended return. While you wait, you should get your amended rental property depreciation report readied. The ATO website does provide all details for you to do it. But you should get this done by a certified quantity surveyor or at least consult your tax accountant. That way the chances of errors are minimised.
A Review of the Entire Process
Now that you know that a couple of years of delay can be corrected, you need to understand the complete picture. ATO rules allow you to claim tax relief on account of depreciation. Depreciation is the annual reduction that your rental property suffers. This is a normal accounting principle. You can claim depreciation for both fixed assets and other fixtures and fittings.
Conclusion:
You may have submitted incomplete rental home returns in previous years. It could be simply because you didn’t know about it or you might have missed it. All it means is that you paid a slightly higher tax that year. But that mistake can be easily corrected. You can back-claim for two to four years, depending on what type of taxpayer you are. Get in touch to learn more and speak to one of our professional team members for more insight.
