Last night WHK hosted an event "Budget 2010 - How will it Impact Your Property Interests?" There was a fantastic turnout over 70 people from various sectors in the Property Industry. It was signalled early on this year that there would be major changes to the taxing of property in this year's Budget, and we weren't disappointed!  

The 2010 Budget has been described by the Government as the largest overall in 25 years. Therefore, there was a lot to cover.

Amanda Watt along with Andrew Sayers and Sarah Thompson of WHK's tax team spoke on these important changes, including how people will no longer be able to claim depreciation on buildings lasting longer than 50 years. This will obviously have an impact on the cashflow for many property investors.

More information is to come relating to the fitouts of commercial buildings. For residential chattels the Inland Revenue have already released an interpretation statement on the correct tax treatment for depreciating residential assets. This can be found on page 16 of their May Tax Information Bulletin (view here).  

The other major change that will mainly affect investors is the proposed changes to the QC/LAQC regime. The proposal is to treat LAQC's similar to limited partnerships, where losses and profits will be distributed to the shareholders. The issue however, will be to what extent losses can be distributed. The legislation around this proposal are yet to be determined. Once the Government has released its' decision on how QC's and LAQC's will be treated for tax purposes we will be in contact with you.

  Download our special Budget 2010 edition of Sharp-As Tax