It’s when we start to get busy.

All those people who paid us for their Depreciation Schedules before June 30 are keen to get them. Those with imminent appointments with their accountant are especially keen.

Just as well we still have the best turnaround time in our industry.

There will be Depreciation Schedules from us showing up in your inbox over the next few weeks from clients you didn’t realise had bought an investment property.

Then there will be Depreciation Schedules you are hoping for from clients who you know have bought an investment. Perhaps you referred them to us using your booking link.

 We would have been in touch with those clients within the hour, but sadly not all will have gone ahead despite our best efforts. They will show up for their meeting with you and you will say, ‘Okay, now do you have that Depreciation Schedule? I’ll need that.’

There are times when we get a call from an accountant while their tardy client is in the room – squirming. They’ll ask us how quickly we can turn around the Depreciation Schedule they ordered some time ago.

Now is the time to let us know if there are clients you suspect might need a Depreciation Schedule. Much better to get it before they come to see you. You can make an enquiry here.

Key points

1. 1. The changes to CGT make a Depreciation Schedule even more important – changes made to the property over time are recorded with a date and a cost to help with accurate valuations.
2. 2. Our turnaround time is fast – even at this time of year. Almost 25 years in the industry means you can rely on our experience.
3. 3. If you have a client wondering if there is any depreciation in an older property, reach out. Use your booking link to make an enquiry, and let us do the investigating for you.
4. 4. We’ve always offered free updates to our clients so when they come to see you, they have an up to date Schedule to help make tax time a little easier for you both.

Why do the recent CGT changes make a Depreciation Schedule even more important?

The importance of having an up to date Depreciation Schedule in light of the changes to CGT calcs is something not many people are aware of. We wrote about this last month here.

This time next year is when the CGT line in the sand gets drawn and it will be important to capture the cost of improvements made to a property prior to that time. This will help with valuations for clients who choose to get them.

There are people renting out properties that used to be their home. They would have a cost base from when they bought the property, but they have made improvements over the years and these need to be captured (and ideally depreciated). This is useful information for a valuation.

There are also people who perhaps bought a block of land and built a house and lived there for some years before renting it out. That initial build cost was never captured. We often help out there.

A lot of accountants don’t realise we have always helped with CGT calcs, and we will of course be helping out with the coming CGT twist.

For now, the most important thing is to have an up to date Depreciation Schedule that captures and costs any changes made over time.

Depreciation Schedules delivered in 5-10 working days even in tax season

We have always been fast – even at this time of year.

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.

How can you be sure there is depreciation in an older property?

There is often depreciation in older properties, but how can you be sure it’s worth doing?

You don’t need to be sure.

That’s why you use us. We’ll have a chat to the client about the property and look at information online and tell them how much depreciation will be in the property and what our fee will be.

If we don’t think it’s worth doing, we’ll tell them. We do that every single day – there is no point taking on a job and charging the client and finding an inconsequential amount of depreciation.

As a rough guide, any property built after September 87 will be worth depreciating.  

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.

But older properties have often had renovations by previous owners and they can be depreciated. You will have no idea whether there is a depreciation sitting in an older property that your accountant can claim.

We can tell very quickly.

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.

Free Depreciation Schedule Updates make tax time easy

This is the time of year when we will be sending you updated Depreciation Schedules..

We have done free updates for your clients since we started 25 years ago – our very good systems make this easy. You can read more on this here. 

Some clients come back to us every year and tell us what they have done to their property over the previous 12 months. 

They will ask, sometimes pleadingly, whether perhaps some of the work can be claimed as ‘repairs’. We don’t give advice, but we give them our opinion on how to treat property updates.

It all depends on the nature of the work and timing.

Things we think should be depreciated, we put into a revised Depreciation Schedule.

If there are things we think they might be able to expense, we suggest they run them 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.