Generally, travel costs are not deductible for property
any legal costs could be a capital cost but as there is no capital gains tax event I don’t see how you could claim these either.

Generally there is no different treatment between tenants in common and joint tenants for stamp duty. JT are considered to be the same as TIC in equal shares.

I don’t think there would be any difference with first home duty concessions either.

In an ideal world you would hold each property under a separate trust, but you have to consider administration and fees. However in QLD it can work out cheaper due to the land tax savings.

Not sure what you mean by a piggy bank trust, but I sometimes recommend clients gift to the trustee of one trust and have the trustee of the second trust…[Read more]

Under NSW law if a person controls a trust, company etc, the assets of those entities could be ‘attacked’ by the courts having the powers to deem teh assets to be part of the estate of the deceased – under certain limited circumstances.

So if you know or think someone may attack your estate after you death you have to plan carefully, even if you…[Read more]

Better in what sense?
Are you trying to avoid assets falling into the wrong hands at death due family disputes or gain asset protection on potential bankruptcy of beneficiaries.

There are many ways that funds funnelled thru different entities can be attacked. There are claw back provisions in state legislation and in the bankruptcy act. e.g you…[Read more]

A will is hardly bullet proof, not sure what you mean by ‘wishes attached’ but a letter of wishes has no legal weight. It all depends on the circumstances. If you don’t own property, it can’t be passed via your will – example spouse owned property but that can be attacked.

The corporate veil? In some instances the corporate veil could be attached…[Read more]

Not any more buddy!

This stamp duty ‘loophole’ closed last year.

The commission has nothing to do with the crossing, but if you refinance he would get a bigger commission because of the bigger loan.

You signed a contract to pay him, not sure what the ombudsman could do. Why not just instruct him what you want and tell him to do it – no crossing. You are the client and borrower. And don’t go signing anymore contracts!

As a broker and lawyer I would suggest you avoid setting up your loan in such a manner. Commissions don’t change if loans bundled together but there are brokers out there that just use one particular bank and/or product so most of their clients go into the same bank and product. Saves them having to think too much.

Cross coll can be useful in…[Read more]

Hi Louie

If you are developing then a whole different structure might be the way to go. You will be able to improve asset protection by segregating risk and assets if you do it properly.

Bit of a broad question.

First thing you should be asking is whether to set up a trust at all.
Then are you considering a company as trustee of a trust or a company with the shares held by a trust.

Then consider
– land tax
– asset protection on bankruptcy
– asset protection on death/estate planning.

e.g. if you are buying in QLD it might be…[Read more]

excel, with a summary tab and a different tab for each property.

Estate planning is more than wills and documentation. Its about planning who takes control of ‘your’ assets after your death or incapacity (or even while still kicking).

I get many clients wanting to gift large sums of cash, or even the majority of their wealth to trusts. They don’t realise that this is really giving assets away. It is generally…[Read more]

I had a friend who bought a property years ago, in his own name because he wanted to get negative gearing benefits. He had a non working wife with no income and he was on the top tax bracket. The property jumped over night and he sold it within 2 years at double what he purchased it for. He was still on the top tax bracket and wore the full…[Read more]

Hi Jaxon

Well, it would all depend. I would probably suggest if they are going to buy property to buy the first one in their own name and get access to the main residence CGT. If they are concerned about asset protection perhaps a gift and borrow back to a related trustee of a discretionary trust. Estate planning needs to be tied in with…[Read more]

No I am asking if you have considered the points I made. I know nothing about your situation so could not recommend one way or the other.

Was your friend qualified to give such advice?

If the main residence is owned by the lower income earner this may be good for tax purposes if the income will exceed the costs once you move out. But income is only one aspect to consider. What about estate planning, asset protection, CGT, land tax, serviceability, and ability to use various…[Read more]

If selling don’t forget to factor in about 24% lost of CGT.

Good start mate

I like to think in terms of today’s dollars as property and shares should (hopefully) grow at least as fast as inflation.

$200k is that pretax or post tax? That is a lot of money either way, probably 8 times the pension amount. Do you really need this much as the less you need the quicker it will be. Also consider that there m…[Read more]

I am not an accountant but it looks cheap to me.