Sure, we do thousands of Depreciation Schedules every year, but only after we have done our (and perhaps your) homework first – there is no point rushing off and doing a Depreciation Schedule if there is no benefit to your client.

We’ve been doing this for nearly 25 years, mostly for the clients of accountants, so we know when getting a Depreciation Schedule stacks up.

When you send a client to us using your booking link, we do some online research and call them for a chat. That’s when they will ask us all those questions you don’t have time to answer, like, ‘So what’s this depreciation thing all about?’ 

It means that when your clients come to see you with their Depreciation Schedule, you (and they) can be assured that it was worth doing.

How else do we help you and your clients – especially in tax season?

Key Points:

1. 1. Our unique lifetime free update service allows your clients to give you an up to date Depreciation Schedule that incorporates improvements made during the year.
2. 2. We’re happy to look at older properties online and estimate the depreciation available in them so you don’t have to worry about it. 
3. 3. At this time of year, you don’t want to be waiting on a Depreciation Schedule to complete your client’s tax return. Rely on our experience to complete your client’s Depreciation Schedule quickly and accurately.
4. 4. We’ll give your clients our opinion on how to claim a Special Levy after considering all the information available and then ask them to run it past you.

Our unique lifetime free updates

Our ‘lifetime free update service’ is unique. 

And it’s not just clients who benefit from this. You do, too.

It means that instead of clients coming to you at tax time with a bunch or receipts for improvements they have made to their rental property over the last year, they can instead give you an updated Depreciation Schedule that incorporates all those improvements.

And it’s not just a DIY online thing your clients use for updates. We’ll have a conversation with them, just like when we did their job initially to work out what things belong in their revised Depreciation Schedule.

‘What about repairs?’, people ask. Yes, we wade into those murky waters, too. We have written often about repairs – most recently here.

When your clients call us unsure about what constitutes a repair vs an improvement, we’ll talk them through the ATO definitions and guide them. We don’t give advice, but we will offer our opinion.

We’re happy to chat to you about that stuff at any time, too.

Estimate depreciation available in older properties

We’re also happy to look at properties online and estimate the depreciation in them. Lots of people don’t realise how much depreciation can be in an older property.

September 1987 was the cut off for residential properties. Anything built after then still has depreciation in it. We do Depreciation Schedules on dozens of older properties every week.

A decent sized project home built in the 90s could easily have $3,000 per year in depreciation just waiting for your client to claim.

And those 90s properties have often had renovations by previous owners, meaning even more depreciation.

We have written here about a really old property, a 90 year old Queenslander, that had been renovated by previous owners and there was over $8,000 per year for the new owner to claim.

So rather than you having to decide at this busy time of year whether there is any depreciation in a property, let us do it for you. Just make an enquiry here and we’ll do the rest. If your client proceeds, you’ll get an email letting you know.

Take advantage of our speedy turnaround time

We still have the speediest turnaround time in the business.

Why?

It’s partly because we have clever people who talk to your clients and work out quickly if a job is worth doing. Then they get it moving. It won’t surprise you to know that over the last 25 years, we have built some efficiencies into our operation.

It’s also because not all properties need to be inspected, despite what some other providers suggest.

If a client has built a new house, the project cost must be used as per the legislation as our starting point.

Then it’s a matter of valuing the Depreciating Assets. There is always enough information available for us to do this without your client having to pay for a quantity surveyor to go for a drive.

And if it’s say, a 1998 project home with no renovations? We’ll likely be able to work out the 1998 build cost without a visit.

But we hasten to add, that we are always happy to visit a property if the client prefers. And there are occasions when we insist on an inspection.

If you have a client due to see you soon and you have an inkling they may have bought an investment property recently, refer them to us via your booking link and we might have their Depreciation Schedule ready when you see them. Jobs we don’t need to inspect, we can turn around over night if need be.

Guidance on how to treat Special Levies

Making a call on how to treat Special Levies is another way we can help you this tax season.

There has been a huge increase in Special Levies of late, prompted we think by some terrible weather on the east coast in the last few years combined with poor building work.

We have written about Special Levies most recently here.

In short, there are two considerations in working out how to treat Special Levies: the nature of the work, and how long the client has been renting out the property.

Rather than you having to quiz the client, let us do it. We’ll give the client our opinion for them to run past you. 

Enquire now for a property-specific assessment

Has this article reminded you about a client’s investment property? Residential properties, commercial properties, even farms, we do them all.

If you want us to talk to a client about a Depreciation Schedule, make a no-obligation enquiry and rely on our 20-plus years of experience in estimating depreciation returns.