you can only claim one residence as your PPOR at any one time, but you can choose which one and this choice may only be need to be made in the year you sell one. So you would, probably, just choose the one with the biggest capital gain as your main residence.

I have a client who keeps selling properties to himself/family – crazy waste of stamp duty. He needs to because his credit report has gotten very messy due to slackness.

I would suggest to Bill to think about how to make things as flexible as possible from a borrowing POV as well as tax etc. Don't just go and form a company with everyone as trustee – some do this – and it just ruins serviceability and adds risk.

Start thinking who will take part in the first deal in terms of servicing. I would suggest a company as trustee with a discretionary trust – but be careful of naming beneficiaries as some lenders will insist on personal guarantees from all named adult beneficiaries. Maybe have a few trusts set up so that one trust is the beneficiary of the first and the proit can be distributed to the 2nd one which could have everybody named if need be.

Do one or two and then maybe you will need a new company and another trust setup.

Another thing to think about is is some members do not have shares in the trustee company, then how do you protect them. Same with appointors as it is the appointor who can sack the trustee – so maybe another company as appointor or some sort of written agreement which you should get legal advice for.

Some valuers are more generous than others. I wouldn't be keen on buying a place $15k under value – maybe you could order another valuation from a different company just to be sure. Spending $300 could save you $15,000.
never trust an agent or their estimate.

If you are a contractor, or can arrange to be, then you could run a business thru a trust. There are a number of hurdles to overcome, but it is possible to do. The profit can possibly then be distributed to other family members and tax reduced.

Trusts only have $200 stamp duty to setup in NSW, none in QLD and WA now (I think). you would pay stamp duty on existing assets which are transfered and it is usually not worth doing (unless maybe you have a high non-deductible debt and equity in an investment), but look at buying any new property and shares in a DT.

I wouldn't mix funds at all.

See this newsletter article from Bantacs, under the sub heading "Losing interest deduction."
http://www.bantacs.com.au/booklets/Claimable_Loans_Booklet.pdf

"Imagine how you would feel if you borrowed $100,000 to invest in shares. Then when it came time to do
your tax return your Accountant told you the interest is not tax deductible because the money went from
your loan to your cheque account so you could write a cheque to your broker. A recent AAT case decided
that if loan funds are intermingled with other funds before being used for income producing purposes they
are no longer considered to have their source in the loan."

And the Domjan's case

Domjan and Commissioner of Taxation [2004] AATA 815 (5 August 2004)

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/aat/2004/815.html

i guess you could jsut search on the suburb, once you have found it – there could be more in the same area.

There was a rule which allowed the interest and expenses a jointly owned property to be claimed by the highest income earner by using salary sacrifice. The loophole has been closed now.

I would be very wary of borrowing money and putting it into a savings account and then mixing it with other money.

There was a legal case a few years ago where a person borrowed money, put the money in a savings account (maybe to access his cheques on that account). He then bought something investment related. it was deemed that the interest was not deductible because the direct link was gone.

Forget the case now – does anyone know?

That is a difficult question. I think it comes down to when you sell and your intention. New property is supposed to attract GST on its sale – but I think the land portion will be GST exempt because it is not new. However, if you were to rent them out for a while and then sell, they will no longer be new and therefore GST may not apply.

if you do have to apply GST to the sale, then you may be able to claim the GST you were charged on materials which should offset the pain a bit.

have a look at wwwbantacs.com.au and the booklet on "how not to be a property developer".

And speak to a good accountant now.

That seems correct. Remember 366 days in leap years and same months are 31 days, so interest each month will vary.