Download a very useful form to help you prepare your tax.

By Pat Fleming

The best use of your accountant’s time and fees come from the advice they give you not from sorting paper to prepare your tax return.  Help to keep those tax accounting bills down and put a smile on your accountant’s face and have your information well summarised and supported by all of the invoices and other substantiation documents required.

Use the link below to download your copy of the Rental Property Annual Income and expenses form. It will be invaluable to your accountant when they process your tax return.

rental_property_annual_income_and_expenses_doc.pdf

• Attach your annual rental statement, invoices, bank statements and other documentation to this form in the order of the form.

• If you are having your tax return done for the first time by the accountant, also attach your last year tax return, a copy of the purchase contract, Conveyancing settlement letter and loan documents and your depreciation schedule.

• If you have made any addition or renovations for the year, schedule these at the bottom of the form together with the supporting invoices.

Undertaking this simple summary for each of your properties has a twofold benefit: you save on accounting bills and you have a better understanding of your property’s performance.

If you use one of the manual rental property software programs, provide a detailed printout of all transactions for the year, together with  the annual summaries.  Your accountant may even have the same software so check whether a copy of your data file may be useful.  As with using the manual summary above, sort all of your paperwork into the same order as the annual report so that the Accountant need only do a quick check of documents to substantiate claims made.

Salary earners, don’t forget to also get an ITWV done so that you don’t have to wait until year end to get your tax refund on negatively geared properties.

Pat Fleming is a property investor and tax specialist. Her clients all benefit from her practical experience and knowledge of property tax issues. It is vital that you are aware of and use every tax benefit you are entitled to - or you will just be throwing money into the wind.  You can contact Pat through Property Women on 1300 881 224.