Tyron Hyde - Keep Claiming It!: A guide to property depreciation

First published in 2018 by Major Street Publishing Pty Ltd

PO Box 106, Highett, Vic. 3190. E | info@majorstreet.com.au

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Tyron Hyde 2018

Ordering information

Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations and others. For details, contact Lesley Williams using the contact details above.

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ISBN: 9781925283303 (eBook)

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission.

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Internal design by Production Works

Cover design by Simone Geary

Disclaimer: The material in this publication is of in the nature of general comment only, and neither purports nor intends to be advice. Readers should not act on the basis of any matter in this publication without considering (and if appropriate taking) professional advice with due regard to their own particular circumstances. The author and publisher expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person, whether a purchaser of this publication or not, in respect of anything and the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance, whether whole or partial, upon the whole or any part of the contents of this publication.

Depreciation can be complex, but in Keep Claiming It! Tyron Hyde breaks it down so its easy to understand. Better still, he offers tips and strategies you can implement to improve your depreciation benefits right now, and generate a bigger tax refund whats not to love! Sarah Megginson, Editor of Your Investment Propertymagazine

I made up my mind to work with Tyron when I saw him. I never went to another quantity surveyor. And I never regretted it.

Harry Triguboff, Founder, Meriton

If there is some detail about property depreciation that Tyron Hyde does not know, I have yet to find it his deep knowledge of how to take full advantage of the depreciation rules helps investors make the highest possible returns from their real estate investments. Pam Walkley, Moneymagazine

To my wife Sandy, without whom this book wouldnt have happened, and for putting up with my rabbiting on about property depreciation for 25 years!

The task of writing this book could not have been completed without the assistance of many other people. Id like to thank Annie Reid from Atrium Media for her assistance in bringing the manuscript together. Thanks to Harry Triguboff, Sarah Megginson and Pam Walkley for their testimonials. Thanks also to Tony Brown and Jim Ford for their guidance over the years and to Tom Lander, Kenneth Yu and Kiran Mistry for their input into certain chapters of this book.

Last, but not least, thank you Taylor, my daughter, for making me smile every day.

Tyron Hyde is CEO of Washington Brown. Established in 1978, Washington Brown is one of Australias most respected quantity surveyor organisations, providing tax depreciation and construction cost advice to property investors across the country. Tyron started at the firm as an intern in 1993 where his can-do attitude helped build Washington Brown to where it is today. His passion and knowledge for the industry sees that he is regularly requested for his opinion for publication by the media.

Tyron Hyde holds a Bachelor of Building in Construction Economics. He is also an Associate of the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors and a Registered Tax Agent.

Tyron is based in Sydney, NSW. This is his second book.

Where it all began

Depreciation 101

Your depreciation report

Building allowance and plant and equipment

Residential property and property investors

Making the most of depreciation

7 ways to crack the new laws

Depreciation and taxation

Depreciation when you are renovating

Commercial and industrial property depreciation

So, you want to be a property developer

Quantity surveyors

Other functions of quantity surveyors

My personal property investment strategy

Depreciation: Where to from here?

Since my first book and the first book in Australia on depreciation was published in 2013, a lot has happened. Median house prices in Sydney and Melbourne have increased by approximately 70 per cent, the mining boom is over, and the property boom that went with it has collapsed leaving many property investors devastated in its wake, and first home buyers are struggling to get onto the property market.

Many blame the generous tax benefits available to property investors for this. The result, in May 2017, were legislative changes to areas of taxation that affect property investors, the main one being my area of expertise, depreciation.

Does this mean investors will stop choosing property? Does this mean current investment property owners will sell off their investments because they can no longer claim depreciation in quite the same way? The answer to both of these questions is no, they will (and so they should) Keep Claiming It!

I still remember the massive excavation trucks, heavy with dirt, as they made their way out of the construction site. It was close to 30 years ago now and I was working part-time for my soon to be brother-in-law, a developer. My job? Counting the vehicles as they went in and out of the building site in Ashfield, Sydney. It was my job to keep a tally and confirm how many truckloads of earth had been excavated so that the contractor didnt rip off my boss.

Despite the hard work at the site, I was thankful for the work experience. I was also working part-time at McDonalds while completing my Year 12 certificate.

As we were chatting one day, I told my would-be brother-in-law, Peter, that I was still undecided about what to study at university. He told me two things that stuck with me and changed my life. First, he said: You can only ever make real money working for yourself and, second, he told me that In reality McDonalds is a property development company they just sell hamburgers on the side.

So, while flipping those burgers during my shift at McDonalds, and counting those trucks during my shift at the construction site, I thought about what Peter had said. While I was trying to work out what he meant by McDonalds being a property developer I enrolled in a Bachelor of Construction Economics degree.