Empower Blog Tax

Principal Place of Residence CGT Exemption

The recent increases in housing prices make it more important than ever to ensure you home is fully protected from Capital Gains Tax (CGT) by your main residence exemption. Afterall CGT is really just a tax on inflation.  If your home misses out on the exemption you are unlikely to have enough left to buy another home after you pay the tax...

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Tax Deductions When Working From Home

Don’t forget to keep all the records you will need to be able to claim the associated costs as a tax deduction. None of the claims listed below will affect the CGT main residence exemption on your house. The CGT main residence exemption is more a factor of whether you see the public there or that it is advertised as a place of business. If yo...

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What is Negative Gearing and Why It’s NOT a Strategy?

This video is part of our Negative Gearing video series. You're currently watching Video 1. Video 2: Labor's Negative Gearing Policy Blunders (Part 1) - Watch here Video 3: Labor's Negative Gearing Policy Blunders (Part 2) - Watch here   Transcript: Hello, Ben Kingsley here. There's a lot of discussion and debate around property at...

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Negative Gearing Still Works

Bryce is Money Magazine’s cover story this October!! Here to explain Why Negative Gearing Still Works, Bryce puts forward a crucial point, and one we frequently come back to: negative gearing is not a strategy; it’s a tax outcome that represents a moment in time. In other words, “Negative gearing is a means to an end, not a permanent way ...

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Bad Time for Property Investment?

Ben appears again in Money Magazine’s Special Edition issue, this time in a Q&A surrounding some hard questions about the current market climate for property investors. With the spotlight on changes to borrowing, Federal Budget restrictions and depreciation claims, a light shadow looms on certain investors. Is it a bad time for property inves...

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Tax Structures and Tax Avoidance | What you should know?

Hi, Ben Kingsley here with another How to Session. Today I want to talk about tax and tax structures, and potentially tax avoidance. Now tax avoidance is illegal in this country so it's important to understand what you can and can't do around tax. In the property investment industry, there are a lot of property spruikers out there, and some of the ...

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Sky Business News – Your Money Your Call (February 2017)

Ben Kingsley is welcomed back on SKY Business News Channel, Your Money Your Call (YMYC). With Margaret Lomas away, Lisa Montgomery steers tonight’s discussion as Ben and Brad Beer talk Property Investment and how to make your investment work for you. Live from the studio, they answer a handful of emails and calls of interest, discussing: Wha...

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Q&A with our Treasurer, Scott Morrison

As a buyers agent and property expert, it's always a great opportunity when you get to talk to the Treasurer. You get to ask questions on current policies, pick the Treasurer's brain on political issues and most importantly, voice your opinion on the industry. In this Money Magazine's November 2016 Edition, Bryce is given this opportunity to pose ...

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Tax Refund: Can You Request It Sooner?

Whenever you are buying an investment property, you should never buy it for tax reasons alone because it really has to be about the fundamentals underlying that particular property that you're buying. But let's be honest, once you've done that, the tax concessions or the tax refund that you get from holding a property is a very strong reason why yo...

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Is an SMSF right for you?

Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) are the largest and fastest growing super sector in Australia and for many good reasons. But before you start an SMSF, it’s important to weigh up both the advantages and disadvantages and consider seeking advice to determine whether an SMSF is right for you. The advantages SMSFs can offer a number of features ...

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Is Negative Gearing good or bad?

With so much debate right now about negative gearing it's really important to try and provide some balance. Is it a good thing or is it a bad thing? So I'm going to come up with five reasons why I think it's a positive thing for the economy and of course I've got to declare my self-interest here because I am a property investor myself. I have a bus...

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How Do You Spot a Property Spruiker?

I've been in this Property Investment industry for over 16 years and I'm often asked this question, "How do you actually spot a Property Spruiker?". Lots of people talk about property spruikers but what actually is it? In my view, there's actually three, I guess, people that you can take your information from in this property investment industry. T...

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Negative Gearing vs Positive Gearing | Which is Better?

Hello, Ben Kingsley here and today I want to talk about Negative Gearing vs Positive Gearing. Now the difference between the two is an income outcome which basically means that with negative gearing properties, we actually have to put some of our surplus cash into supporting the investment as opposed to positive gearing where we actually get some ...

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