Hi

I don't think there is a way to transfer the title and ownership without paying stamp duty. You may be able to work out some sort of lease option method whereby beneficial ownership is slowly transfered from yourself to the relatives slowly over time. The stamp duty would only be payable on the transfer of title, but the other party could have an equitable interest and lodge a caveat to protect this interest. This could be combined with them taking a second mortgage to further protect themselves – increasing this over the years as the value increases.

It is generally not possible to have the mortgage in a different name to the title unless between spouses or company/director etc. I did one with a loan in the son's name and property in the mum's name, but had to go to a small private lender.

But you parents would probably qualify for a No Doc loan at 70% LVR.

You generally cannot get 100% offset accounts on fixed loans, but can set up a savings account and have the interest direct debited.

I think you have to fill in a CGT schedule if you have had a CGT event, even if there is no profit, and especially so if there is a capital loss or a gain.

I would only start paying investment loans down if you have paid off all of your non-investment loans first.

The bank will only lend on what it is at the moment, but just having the approval to subdivide should have added value and increased the amount you can borrow.

I believe that Julia has argued somewhere that just because you have to ability to pay the interest with other money doesn't necessarily require you to do so. I have spoke to someone who was high up in the ATO about this, and his view was similar to Julia's and he also added that having the LOC and the investment loans at different banks would also help by creating more distance between the two. It can also help if there are different entities involved.

But the ATO could still use their powers under Part IVA to disallow the deductions if they view that the dominant reason was to save tax – even negative gearing could be disallowed -some people even negative gear property just to save tax.

With depreciation the ATO allows your to claim a pecentage of the decline in value of your property construction costs and fixtures and fittings. eg. If your house cost $100,000 to build, you may be able to claim $2500 pa for 40 years. Carpets costing $1000 could be claimed at 20% per year for 5 years etc. It all adds up and saves you tax. These are called no-cash deductions as you do not need to have spent the money to claim the deductions each year.

Sorry to hear.

I think there is nothing to prevent you from purchasing your sister's shares via a trust structure. You should get some expert advice regarding this as the tax issues are rather complex and there may be ways to save lots of tax – especially if the home was purchased pre-CGT.

A company has many advantages over individuals as trustees

1) There is no confusion over who owns the asset.
If you were personal trustee, then there is a question on if the property is owned by you or the trust. If you have a company as trustee, there is less confusion – especially if this is all the company does

2) Asset protection
Trustees of a trust can be sued, so having a company there limits liability

3) Easier for loans and control/ownership
It is easier to switch and add people for loan servicing. eg. one partner wants out, he just resigns as director and you reach an agreement on split up of costs etc. No need to change title deeds.

If loans need some extra income for servicing, you could also add a director and get another person to help with a guarantee.

There may be a few more reasons too, but that is all I can think of atm.

Also be careful from a loan point of view as you generally don't want too many people giving guarantees out as this will affect serviceability.