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The Benefits of Choosing a Local Tax Accountant in the Bankstown Area.

Local Bankstown Accountant

In the fast-paced world of finance and taxation, the decision to choose a tax accountant can significantly impact the financial health of individuals and businesses alike. While the allure of big-name firms and online services might seem tempting, you may want to explore your options locally. In this article, we’ll explore the myriad benefits of opting for a local tax professional.

Personalised Service

Local tax accountants thrive on establishing personal connections with their clients. Unlike large firms, they have the time and dedication to understand the unique financial needs of individuals and businesses in the community. This personal touch ensures tailored advice, allowing clients to make informed decisions that align with their specific situations.

Local Knowledge and Expertise

Tax laws and regulations can vary at the local level. Local tax accountants possess a deep understanding of the specific tax codes and requirements relevant to your area. This localised expertise can result in more accurate filings and potentially unlock region-specific deductions or credits that a non-local accountant might overlook.

Accessibility and Convenience

Need a quick meeting to discuss your financial concerns? Local tax accountants are often more accessible than their larger counterparts. With a nearby office in Bankstown, you can schedule face-to-face meetings, drop off documents, or seek advice on short notice. This accessibility fosters a sense of trust and reliability that is crucial but also offers greater accessibility to all clients.

Community Support

Choosing a local Bankstown tax accountant means supporting a local business in your area. By investing in your community, you contribute to its economic growth and sustainability. Local accountants understand the unique challenges faced by businesses in the area and can provide advice that goes beyond mere financial numbers, incorporating a deep understanding of the local business landscape and the people that occupy the area.

Cost-Effective Solutions

Contrary to popular belief, local tax accountants often offer competitive pricing compared to larger firms. With lower overhead costs, they can provide cost-effective solutions without compromising on the quality of service. This affordability makes professional tax assistance accessible to a broader range of clients.

Building Long-Term Relationships

Local tax accountants are invested in the success of their clients and can connect with clients to provide the best experience. Building long-term relationships is a priority for them. As your financial situation evolves, having a trusted local expert by your side ensures continuity and a proactive approach to adapting your financial strategy to changing circumstances.

Conclusion

Choosing a local tax accountant like Impact Taxation is not just a financial decision; it’s an investment in your community and a commitment to receiving a personalised, reliable service. As you navigate the intricate world of taxation, consider the wealth of benefits that come with having a local tax professional on your side, a partner who not only understands your financial needs but is also dedicated to your success in the community you both call home.

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Impact Taxation and Financial Services Pty. Ltd. is a CPA Practice based in the Bankstown area. We are committed to customizing our services to meet your financial needs and help you achieve your visions and goals.

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    10 things you should consider before buying a property

    Are you considering buying a property? Do you know you could miss opportunities to save thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars if you don’t plan well before the purchase?

    Below are a few key considerations:

    1. How should you set up your loan structure? If you don’t have a loan offset account for a rental property, after you make extra payments directly to the loan account, you can only claim interest deduction on the remaining balance of the loan. For tax purposes, this deductible balance can’t be changed even if you redraw the overpaid amount later. A good loan structure could also help you to stabilize interest rate and speed up loan repayment by combining a standard variable loan (with an offset account) and a fix rates account.

    2. Timing of renovation. You might want to do a renovation right after you have bought the rental property. But do you know for any genuine repair & maintenance included in the renovation, you can claim an outright deduction against the rental income when the property is available for rental? If the work is done before the date when the property is available for rental, you can only claim the deduction against future capital gain when the property is sold. Depend on when you are going to sell, it could take years or up to decades before you can claim the deduction.

    3. How should you split ownership? You might want to share the property ownership with a family member. For tax purposes, the percentage of ownership is based on the legal title, regardless of who is paying more on the mortgage. If the property will give you a tax profit, you might want to allocate more
    ownership to the low-income earner to utilize the lower marginal tax rate. If it is giving you a tax loss, you might want to allocate more ownership to the high-income earner to utilize the loss. The goal is for the family to pay minimum tax together.

    4. Should you use a family trust to purchase the property? There are many pros and cons related to a family trust. The advantages include tax savings on rental profit or capital gain, asset protection and succession planning on family wealth. However, family trust can’t distribute losses. All losses are trapped in the trust to be used to offset future trust profit. Therefore, you can’t utilize any rental loss in a trust to offset other income such as salary & wages. Family trusts also attract high accounting fees on initial setup and annual fees on financial statements and tax returns. State governments also charge much higher land tax on family trusts.

    5. Will the income level change in future years for different owners? You might want to forecast the possible income for different owners to understand total tax payment / savings related to the property. This could also impact on your decision making on point 3 and 4 above.

    6. Understand when you can treat your property as main residence to receive an exemption on capital gains tax. When eligible, even if you have received rental income, you could still treat your rental property as main residence and receive the exemption. To be eligible, you will need to treat it as your main residence at the beginning. Please check out this ATO link: Treating former home as main residence.

    7. Decide whether you need to purchase a depreciation report. Most taxpayers don’t know that the depreciation on the building will need to be added back to calculate capital gains tax when the property is sold. When the property is held for more than 12 months, after applying the capital gains tax discount of 50%, it will effectively cut the tax rate by half at the time of sales. This makes depreciation deductions desirable for high income earners. However, for low-income earners it might not be ideal to claim depreciation as a rental deduction since they could be paying more on capital gains tax in the future. It could get more complicated if the property is under joint ownership between high and low income earners.

    8. You might want to consider Centrelink payments for future or existing owners. Most Centrelink payments are income and asset tested. Before attaching a rental property to a family member who is receiving, or plan to receive government benefits, you might want to check the testing thresholds first to see if the Centrelink payment will be impacted. This is also applicable when you are making distributions from a family trust to different family members.

    9. Have you considered using your SMSF (selfmanaged super fund) to make the purchase of a rental property? There are a lot of tax saving opportunities with a SMSF since the income tax rate is only 15%. And the capital gains tax rate is effectively only 10% after factoring in the 1/3 discount. The major downside with a SMSF is normally you can’t get the money out until you retire or on compassionate grounds (SMSF does have more flexibilities compared to normal retail super fund. But the choices are still very limited). It could be expensive to set up and operate a SMSF too. There are also strict legal requirements on the trustees. Penalties on incompliance could be severe. Tax law around SMSF is very complicated too. You will need to find a good tax accountant specialized in SMSF to help you to understand the structure, also do a cost-benefit analysis before setting it up.

    10. Consider internal ownership changes. For your existing rental properties, you can also consider whether you should transfer the ownership between family members, or between different business structures (this is not applicable for SMSF). You might want to do this when the income level changes with family members, or rental property changes between tax profit and loss. Before the change, you need to consider the cost of transfer including capital gains tax, stamp duty, conveyancer fees, etc. Again, a cost-benefit analysis is a must before the change.

    Last but not the least, did you combine all the above strategies and compare your choices? If you haven’t yet, how would you know that you have picked the best strategy to minimize your taxes? We can help you to factor in all considerations, compare different scenarios, also present you with a Property Prepurchase Report with all our findings to help you to make a decision. Contact us today to book in a consultation with an experienced tax accountant!

    IMPORTANT INFORMATION
    This is general advice only and does not consider your financial circumstances, needs and objectives. Before making any decision based on this document, you should assess your own circumstances or seek advice from your financial adviser and seek tax advice from your accountant.

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