Claiming Depreciation

Hi all,

end of financial year is coming up and i'm will be heading to do my taxes. I keep reading about ppl getting quantity surveyors to do a "Depreciation Schedule", however every year my tax agent seems to claim depreciation of carpet, curtains etc anyways...so is there a particular reason why i should pay a surveyor to write up a schedule?

Thanks
PropertySeeker

A quantity surveyor estimates the construction cost of your property and prepares a schedule (which is acceptable evidence to the ATO) to substantiate a depreciation claim which is a percentage of the overall  property over a 40 year life,  not just fixtures and fittings.   If the place is new and you have the construction costs then this is a simple exercise.   If the place is old (maybe your case??) then you can claim for capital improvements which may be what you guy is doing.   

Basically if the property is relatively young you are missing out on a worthile deduction.  If its early 80's and older the its either out of range or a number so small it not worth chasing (my opinion only....some people like to chase even small returns....we had a guy on here once stressing about how his rent got rounded off when working out monthly from weekly and the disaster of leap years)