Empower Blog Tax

How to Boost Your Tax Return in 2025: Ben & Julia’s Hot Tips

It’s that time of year again! And if you’re a property investor or planning to become one, this is the episode you don’t want to miss. Join Ben Kingsley and property tax expert Julia Hartman as they unpack the top tax strategies for 2025—covering everything from depreciation schedules and repairs vs improvements, to land tax timing, sup...

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Victoria’s Latest Vacancy Tax

Please note that this article is first released on BanTacs Blog here. From 1st January 2025 a vacancy land tax applies to all residential properties in Victoria that are not considered to be occupied for at least 6 months of the previous year.   It is no longer just the inner and middle Melbourne areas that are caught.   The period conside...

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Education Bonds: Unlocking a New Future

Education Bonds offer a blend of tax advantages, flexible investment strategies, and wealth transfer capabilities that set them apart from their counterparts. Recent innovative product design means Education Bonds offer an enticing strategy that not only caters to education funding but also embraces diverse financial needs. Education Bonds - Th...

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Are you still Eligible? Tax Offset Changes to Low and Middle Income Earners

Please Note: This post was first published by the Australian Taxation Office. Click here to read the original post. Check eligibility for the low income tax offset or low and middle income tax offset in the 2019 to 2022 income years. On this page Eligibility for the tax offsets Low income tax offset (LITO) Low and middle income ta...

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Maximise Your Returns: Mastering End-of-Year Tax Planning, HECS Hacks, Super Strategies, and More

Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman: Episode 5 In our final episode before the end of the financial year, we'll be exploring the latest tax updates from across Australia, including: Important Changes to HECS/HELP Debt - Changes you MUST ACT on quickly! Each year your HECS debt and other student loans are indexed for inflation on the...

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Got Over $3M in Super? You Might Be Paying More Tax Soon

Note: This document has been prepared by Actuate Alliance Services Pty Ltd (ABN 40 083 233 925, AFSL 240959). At this stage, the measure is a proposal only and has not been made law. The information included below is based on the announcement made on 28 February by the Government and a Factsheet that has since been released by Treasury with some a...

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Warning: Start a Diary of Your Home Office Use Now!

This blog was originally posted on Ban Tacs and written by Julia Hartman, founder of the Ban Tacs group and Chief Technical Tax Advisor for Empower Wealth Tax. This report is also referenced and expanded in our series, Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman in Episode 4. Watch it here >> Despite objections from the Tax Ag...

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Navigating Tax Changes in 2023: Updates to Remote Work Claims, Renting And Victoria’s New Tax Grab 

Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman: Episode 4 In our first episode for 2023, we'll be exploring the latest tax updates from across Australia, including:  Changes to working from home Expense claims: What expenses can you now claim on your 2023 tax returns and how to navigate these changes while maximising your tax deductions. ...

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Highlights from the FY22 Reporting Season: Will Australia Avoid A Recession?

Note: This information is provided by Ausbil Investment Management Limited, an Australian-based investment manager.  Key Observations of Reporting Season Context FY22 reporting season comes after a period of extraordinary events. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia towards the end of the HY22 reporting season in February had a profound eff...

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Your Ultimate Guide To Reducing Tax on Vehicles, Private Insurance & Land

Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman: Episode 3 IMPORTANT NOTE: This recording was filmed and produced before Queensland's Land Tax was scrapped. With a number of policy changes on the cards, in our third episode of “Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman,” Ben and Julia cover... Salary Sacrificing For Cars: How do Salary Sac...

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Everything you Need to Know about Crypto Tax 

Other than in the very rare circumstances where crypto is just purchased to buy a personal asset, any gain or loss you make on crypto is subject to tax. So don’t forget to bring your details with you when you do your tax return. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) are right onto data matching your transactions we are already seeing the sal...

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Tax Planning Tips to Maximise your Returns (Part Two)

Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman: Episode 2, Part 2 In our last Bonusisode, we featured Part One of Tax Planning Tips to Maximise your Returns and now we’re back to give you the rest of the gold!    We’ll be homing in on claiming travel expenses - especially if you’re a rental owner – and how you can best p...

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Tax Planning Tips to Maximise your Returns (Part One)

Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman: Episode 2, Part 1 To celebrate (or more accurately, prepare) for the upcoming tax season, we’re back with the second episode of our new Property Tax education series called “Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman”. As the old saying goes, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fai...

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