It’s just a house

Many Australian’s own their own home. There is of course some concessions from tax for these sorts of properties. Problem is, it can get very complex…

For example, did you know:

• Tax and Centrelink (welfare) legislations have different definitions of what the family home is
• Renting out your first home that you have paid off partly or wholly may lead to tax bills
• A ‘life interest’ can be issued in property, for example you might take control of the childhood home in return for giving aging parents a legal right to use the property (or a part of the property) for the rest of their life
• Subdivisions or significant renovations of the family home may lead to tax and GST problems. Imagine you thought you had a property that was exempt from capital gains tax, and all of a sudden your accountant tells you that you made a taxable profit on the sale of that property and also had to pay GST!
• Granny flats have their own set of rules
• If aged care facilities are on the horizon, then a very interesting question awaits – sell the family home and pay a bond to the facility or keep the home and earn rent?

All of these matters and more are delicate and complex, and should be discussed with an accountant and a licenced financial planner.

The information contained in this article is general in nature and does not take account any of your personal objectives, situations or needs. The information, therefore, does not constitute financial product advice. If you require personal advice you should consult an appropriately licenced person or authorised financial advisor, such as HQB Financial Solutions Pty Ltd.