How Surveying Services Can Help With Tax Returns

Although lodging a tax return with the Australian government can be done online as well as with the more traditional paper submission, many people choose to do so with the assistance of a registered tax agent. This is particularly useful for people who own property, especially if they do so in several different states, where local taxation regulations can differ. The often complex world of property taxation is often best dealt with by professionals. This also includes professional surveyors. Like tax experts, they can be invaluable in not only making sure that your tax return is accurate – thereby reducing the likelihood that the tax authorities will come after you for more money – but actually reducing your tax bill.

Property surveying services are commonly undertaken by quantity surveyors who are professionally trained to value a range of property types. This includes residential and commercial property, for instance, but also other sorts of land investments, such as farmland, industrial land and structures that are used in mining, for example. For anyone who has invested in property, other than the home that they reside in, a quantity survey can be as useful as hiring a good accountant. This is because the Australian Tax Office (ATO) allows property owners certain capital depreciation benefits.

Basically, income-generating land is subject to depreciation benefits because wear and tear that occurs in all sorts of buildings. For example, anyone who has a property that is let to tenants can expect usual wear and tear to occur to things like fixtures and fittings. As a building ages, structural items will wear out, too. For example, things like guttering, roof tiles and window frames will all come to the end of their serviceable lives. As their value lessens they are deemed to have depreciated. The ATO allows a tax deduction for any depreciation so long as it is listed in a schedule along with the tax return. It is important to note that even serviceable items are still depreciating year-on-year and that you don't need to have actually repaired or replaced them in order to benefit from this type of tax relief.

Crucially, the schedule of depreciated items that is attached to your tax return needs to be accurate. Claiming for the depreciation of items that your property or properties don't have is against the rules. Nor is depreciation allowed to be accelerated. Therefore, the veracity of the schedule should not be in question by the tax office. It is for this reason that professional surveying services are often procured as well as the fact that they tend to spot more items that can be claimed for than the average property owner would do.