You can still claim things on your property if you are not in Australia. You will have rental income which can be offset by the expenses but you are likely to run at a loss. If you don't have any other income then you will have a loss each year and these losses will build up until you earn a postive income to offset them.

You also should look into the tax laws of the country you will live in. Often countries have agreements with Australia called double tax agreements which they will not tax you twice. The income earned overseas will have to be declared on your Aussie tax return, but you may not have to pay tax depending on the circumstances. If you have a loss here, you may be able to offset this against the income over there. Its pretty complex.

Just look around. There are plenty on this forum and if you can't find someone you could post here asking for recomendations. I think their fees are around 2% of the purchase price.

Hi Andrew

It is a bit difficult as you are mixing business and pleasure with the one block. Having a trust will save you tax by allowing distributions to the non-working wife, but you may pay tax on the owner occupied portion which you could avoid if you purchased in your own name.

There are a few options which you could consider such as buying a larger share in your wife's name. This will give you the main residence CGT exemption for the front portion and keep tax low for the investment portion.

Another option is to purchase jointly with a trust and your own names. A deed of partition needs to be set up at the start and with you and the trust owning x% and y% each. when sub-division occures you can have your name on one title and the trust name on the other and stamp duty can be avoided. You can then sell wihout CGT on the owner occ and then minimal tax on the trust portion. This can cost a few thousand to set up.

And don't forget if the ATO deemds you to be entering into the purchase with the intention to make money from it they can still deny you the main resident exemption.

To sum up you could:

1) buy in own names only

2) buy jointly with non working spouse receiving the majority of ownership

3) buy in a trust

4) buy jointly with a trust and your own names and using a deed of partition.

So i think you need to work out the rough figures such as profit on sale and holding costs and then work out which way would be best. Then you should go to a good accountant and get some propert advice.

I have also assumed that you don't have any other property which you could be claiming the main residence exemption.

I have bought about 10 properties unseen. I wouldn't recomend it though unless you can get someone you can trust to look at it for you. You never know what is next door or around the corner. Using a buyer's agent is a good idea, they charge fees for their service – but it could be worth spending the money as it could save you a lot in the long run.

Hi

Is it possible for foreign non residents to get finance to purchase in Dubai?

Hi Enigma

Usually DT deeds are worded so that a company in which you are director or shareholder will also be a beneficiary of the trust. Usually the company does not have to be in existance when you set the deed up so they can be added later when needed. Having a company as trustee is a different matter and is mainly used to protect yourself as if the trust is sued and the trust assets are not enough to meet the debt, the trustee's personal assets could be at risk. It is also helpful haivng a company as trustee for changing things around – eg you could change directors and have someone else guarantee the loans down the track if something ever happens to you (like bad credit). There is also the privacy factor as it is the company name that appears in the land title records.

Company's only pay tax at 30% and can be used to limit the tax rate to this. Not sure what you mean about the imputation credits. It a trust makes an income this is distributed to a company or individual etc and they pay tax on it. if the company then makes a dividend payment to a shareholder the shareholder may get a refund of tax or have to pay more tax depending on their incomes.

I don't think there is anyway to transfer assets to a trust without triggering a CGT event.

I know of the situation in Japan, and if you are working there, earning yen you can get loans for Aussie property in Yen at rates around 2%pa. But you must refinance if you were to leave the country. Don't know about other countries.

I would be very careful in making offers. you could have binding contracts if your offers are accepted and multiple binding contracts could be painful!

I agree that it is probably not a good idea to set one up until you know what you will be doing – You will need to lodge tax returns and ASIC fees (if company trustee) etc so it could be costly. Just start doing the research now and get ready.

If you leave things in your parent's name, then you cannot claim things, only the owners. You could lend them the money and they would be able to do the development and claim the expenses though. They have lower incomes so this may result in less tax later on too.

Not sure what you mean about your repayments being used to minimise CGT. CGT is not affected by repayments on interest. Interest is an income expense so comes into play elsewhere.

I am not too sure about GST – it is too complicated to understand.