April 2025

Maybe it’s the calm between?

Tax season is just around the corner – that’s the storm heading our way.

And the east coast is picking up the pieces after a series of terrible storms – lots of repair claims (more about that below).

We all have a bit of breathing space now.

But it’s going to be May before you know it and some of your clients will need Depreciation Schedules done quickly. Do you need to get one going? You can make an enquiry here.

It’s very easy to make an enquiry for a client. We’ll check out the property online and call the client within the hour. In most cases we can tell them how much depreciation might be in the property and how we’ll tackle the job – not all properties need to be inspected.

If the client opts to proceed, we’ll get the Depreciation Schedule to you very quickly – our turnaround time is still the best around.

And once we have done a Depreciation Schedule for one of your clients, we’ll update it free. Forever. That will save you a bit of time when you do their tax return.

Key Points

1. 1.  In the calm after the storm clients may logically go beyond repairs and take the opportunity to improve their properties. This work will need to be claimed at 2.5% per year. 
2. 2. If Capital Works are disposed of, there may be residual value in the original building that your client can claim.
3. 3. When you refer a client to Depreciator, we’ll keep you updated all the way through to delivery of the Depreciation Schedule.
4. 4. We’ll update your client’s Depreciation Schedules with any improvements for free, saving you time every tax season.

How to treat repairs in the calm after the storm

Apparently the name that was supposed to be assigned to the recent cyclone off the east coast was Cyclone Anthony. But that was considered a bit contentious with an election around the corner, so they went with the next name generated – Alfred.

We have lots of clients with properties in the areas affected by Alfred, as would you.

Just this week there has been more bad weather lower down the coast.

Before Alfred, Queensland was battered by storms that didn’t even get a name.

The upshot is a lot of repair claims. Some will be paid for by insurers, but many won’t.

We tell uninsured clients before they do anything to take lots of photos. The ATO’s sympathy to investors with properties affected by storms does not extend to cutting them slack on repair vs improvement claims.

Some of the repair claims on 2025 tax returns will be large, and the ATO will often interrogate them. We wrote about this most recently here.

Many clients will logically go beyond repairs and take the opportunity while they are ‘on the tools’ to improve their properties. The line between repairs and improvements can be a blurry one, but the ATO are very focussed on people not expensing work that should be claimed at 2.5% per year.

Evidence is very important when push comes to shove.

What if Capital Works are disposed of?

Sometimes a house is too far gone to fix and a client will opt to knock it down and rebuild.

Just in the last week, we have had two clients chat to us about this.

It’s good that they called us.

Both properties were built in the 90s, so there was residual value sitting in the buildings that was about to go into skip bins.

One of them was a 1995 built 3 bedroom home. That one had 10 years of value left in it. Now, houses back then cost a lot less to build than they do today, but we worked out that there was $28,000 worth of Capital Works going to the tip.

That client was glad they called us for a chat. 

We put our opinion in a letter and they’ll take it to their accountant. No charge for that exercise because we had done a Depreciation Schedule on that property and had the figures at hand.

All part of the (very good) service that Depreciator provides.

Referrals without the run around

You know the most important part of a referral program?

Keeping referrers in the loop.

Especially when things are getting busy.

How often have you sent a referral off to a service provider and chased it up a few weeks later only for them to say, ‘Yeah, um, not sure that one reached us. Can you send it again?’

If you need a Depreciation Schedule in a hurry and send a referral to us, we’ll respond immediately and let you know we have received the request. Tick.

Then within an hour, we’ll call your client. Tick.

We’ll work out the most sensible way to tackle their job and in many cases give them an estimate of depreciation in that phone call. Tick.

When the job is underway, we’ll let you know. Tick

And of course, when it is finished, you’ll receive the Depreciation Schedule in your inbox at the same time as the client is sent their copy.

Do you have a client we can help with? You can refer a client here right now. It’s very easy.

Free updates – forever

You would be amazed at how many clients ask us to update their Depreciation Schedules. Some come back to us every year with additions.

You would be even more amazed to know that we don’t charge for Schedule updates. The client gets an updated Depreciation Schedule free, and if you referred that client, you get one, too.

But that’s not all we do for you. Clients often email us a spreadsheet (if we’re lucky) of everything they have done to their rental property over the last year or two. It’s the electronic equivalent of a shoe box of receipts – a shiver just went up your spine, didn’t it..

We are very good at determining the line between repairs and improvements – we understand the ATO’s definition of repairs very well and have written about it often, most recently here.

We know when the client started to rent out the property and we chat to them about what they did. Then we give them our opinion – we don’t advise –  but we tell them what their accountant will likely determine.

Then we update their Dep Schedule with what we think constitutes improvements and suggest they take the rest to you for you to expense. That’s going to save you a fair bit of time in some cases.

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.