We might not be able to sell our house in NZ and may have to rent it out. Can we make any tax deductions on rent we receive? Or do we have to pay full tax?

Question

teesol · Answer

We have rented our 2 houses out in Whangarei and you cannot claim against your tax in Australia. You can claim all your expenses against the rental back in NZ, however you have to wait until you have NZ income to offset it against. At the moment you are better to sell and take advantage of the First Home Owners grant if you are intending on staying here permanently.

ally · Answer

The above information isn't actually correct. We are keeping our house in Timaru and will be renting it out. We contacted the Australian Tax Office and they said you are able to write the property off against your Australian income but it must be converted to Australian dollars for tax purposes eg: $NZ250 = $AU200 therefore you claim $200 dollars. You cannot double dip by claiming it in NZ as well. You can claim one trip per annum to visit the property (not including the trip to Queenstown) and any depreciations. If you have owned a house in NZ you will not get the first home owners grant in Australia. My dad's a property developer and his advice was to keep the house in NZ as you are going to lose a lot of money on the transfer of funds and houses are more expensive in Australia especially on the eastern seaboard.

bdp · Answer

Have a rental in Auckland and in the process of moving to Aus. Checked with my account in NZ who also confimed you can offset losses against your Aus salary. You will need to however file a tax return in both countries for income received in NZ and Aus. Strongly suggest you use and accountant who charges me less than $500 to complete annum tax returns.

sabrina · Answer

What kind of ownership or structure shall the NZ rental property be under, if I sell them in the future, will it attract captical gain tax?

homequeen · Answer

Hey bdp,can you recommend the name of your accountant,as the one we have at the moment is very pricey?and if anyone can answer the above question,that would help me and Im sure others too.

kiwiozzie · Answer

I have my NZ accountant saying I can claim a refund in both countries.
I live in nz, am a resident here again, but have investment  properties on Gold coast and in Brisbane which are negatively geared.

My Aussie accountant says you can only claim in the country you are resident in.

If anyone in the reverse position (live in OZ but owns a house in NZ) wants to swap their NZ house for one of my aussie houses, please get in contact.
http://qldrental.blogspot.com  frisbee.golf at hot mail dot com