I don’t know about you but I cannot believe how fast the year is going! Some things I wanted to discuss with all you in this month’s newsletter mainly relate to proposed changes announced recently by the Labor Party in relation to a number of tax changes. I will summarise these for you as follows:

• Changes to trusts – From 1 July 2019, trusts that distribute to individuals will be subject to a minimum of 30% tax irrespective of what the individual’s income is. This effects mainly trust distributions where individuals do not receive any other income or have less than $37,000 of income from other sources. You should be aware of the possibility of these changes. The changes exclude farmers and also the distribution of money to charities and will apply from 1 July 2019.

• Negative gearing – Our clients will recall that the most recent Federal Government Budget released in May 2017 tightened up on some negative gearing deductions in relation to travel and depreciation on plant for second-hand properties. You should be aware that the Labor Party has announced, that if it is elected, that it will reduce the capital gains tax discount on the sale of properties from 50% to 25%. In addition to this, the Labor Party still holds its policy on the abolition of negative gearing from a future point in time were it to be elected.

The reason why I am alerting you to this is because we always need to be aware of future government strategies in order to factor these into our investment strategies should they then become a reality. If Labor are elected (which I think they may be), you may want to consider the following options in your future strategies:

1. If you are looking at purchasing a second-hand negatively geared property, you may wish to bring forward your investment decision before the next election.
2. If you are looking at selling property, you may wish to look at rationalising a capital asset before the next election just in case capital gains tax changes are made retrospectively.
3. You may wish to bring forward dividends payable from companies to family trusts so that these dividends are received by individuals before 1 July 2019.

It is more than ever, very important, to work through with your WSC Group client manager and our financial planning team to fine tune your future financial decisions. Given the current political landscape and some of these proposed changes which I am sure you would all agree are very far reaching.

FREE Information Webinar

Peter Foldes,from Washington Brown, will be assisting us with this month’s webinar on Monday, 28 August at 12:30pm, to provide an update on the budget changes regarding depreciation claims on investment property. These changes dramatically change the property investment equation! The draft legislation has only just been released so we will have an update for you on second-hand properties purchased.

Join us to learn:

• What specifically has changed
• Which property investments no longer allow for a depreciation claim
• What properties are exempt

Head to the Upcoming Events page to register for this webinar.

Tax Time is Upon Us

Please note that with tax time upon us, we would encourage you to use the WSC Group check lists available from our website. I am also encouraging our clients, where possible, to come in for face-to-face meetings.

Don’t forget for our Sydney clients that we have an office in the CBD at Level 8, 33-35 York Street and also conduct appointments at Level 15, Deloitte Building, 60 Station Street, Parramatta.

Exciting Announcement

WSC Group are pleased to announce the acquisition of Camerons Accountants & Auditors on the Gold Coast. We are very excited about this development as it has tripled the size of our Gold Coast operation and now allows us to have 4 permanent staff at this office. If you are a client in Northern NSW or in the corridor between Brisbane and Gold Coast please remember to book in your appointment this office, Suite 2D, 109 Upton Street, Bundall.

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