Hi guys, I have a question about this tax rule.
"you can claim either the full cost of items up to $300 or decline in value for items over $300."
is the $300 for the cost of each item and not for the total cost of all items?
For example, I bought $250 item A for work and another $250 item B for work. Could I claim both items at full price since each of them is less than $300?
Thank you!
To be clear, you dont get the full amount back, just the percentage based on your marginal tax rate. I.e. $100 item may only get you $20 back
Don’t forget reduction for personal use. If the item is for both business and personal use, only the portion of business use can be claimed. So if the $100 item is 50% used for business it will be $100 x 50% = $50 at marginal tax rate (say 20%) the tax savings is only $10.
Thanks heaps. I use it 100% for work and I claim as individual not business. Is it going to be full price if it's less than 300?
Yes
If its 100% then you claim 100% then its 100% - work % (ie 100-0) * $300
yes
That depends on the nature of items A and B. Generally yes, you can deduct both, since each is below $300. Except if they are items in a set, or are identical or substantially identical items. Then, they have to be treated collectively, and not as separate items. Refer to Test 3 and 4 here for more info. E.g., items may be regarded as a set if they are either:
if you walk into jb hifi and one item is 350 and one is 200 have no shame in asking them to adjust the prices to 290 and 260 etc.
Not sure why you're getting negged on this. This is smart business (and business that happens all over the place at tax time).
douche lords that have never thought to try
i think they wiill see this as tax evasion matter and will not do for you
my own accountant said to do so, and i've done plenty of times, and not tax evasion from a personal perspective. Why would a shop care if you buying lots of items.
but hey if you don't want to try it no skin off my back.
hrm, i think it's because there is already a view that accountants cook books and this just reinforces the negative stereotype.
in addition modifying things like this is fraught with moral hazard. hypothetically there are many other situations where you could make exactly the same request but with more ill intent. For example if someone was purchasing for their boss and also making a personal purchase on the same receipt, would it be ok to make the same adjustments into the one your boss ins reimbursing you for? Is it the job of the sales staff to enable any of these requests regardless of what could happen or the intent?
I don't believe you will get any accountant saying you should ask for this kind of book cooking in writing, because i'm fairly sure they'd be up against the ethical committee pretty quick smart and the case would be open/close very quickly too.
You can justify it however you wish, if it weren't tax evasion then why are you doing it? You are only personally trying to skirt the line, why don't you describe here where your line is and everyone can point out why it's in the wrong place….
having said that it's unlikely to come up in any review, but not getting caught doesn't make it right
@peter05: Boss example is disnhonest to your boss and would get you fired if they found out,
This would be tax avoidance, perfectly legal. If something is 301 and you ask to have it for 299, if you also purchase some chewing gum and they say yes, is that illegal? Not like it miles off the market value. Either way I doubt it is your issue, it’s the sellers.
Same goes if you see a house for 500000 and stamp duty is say 1k higher at this price. You could ask the buyer to sell for 499999. Entirely up to the seller, you have done nothing wrong, just negotiated a better price.
@Donaldhump: Your comment and request to the seller is clearly requesting that they are falsifying figures. I do not understand why asking to move numbers around is not falsifying figures?
You can justify yourself all you want but by your very own definitions it isn't kosher. Why don't you ask the tax man about this behavior instead of on an anonymous forum and see what they respond with?
EDIT: to clarify, asking for something to be discounted to below $300 is no problems, however by your OWN post, what you have suggested is what I have a problem with
if you walk into jb hifi and one item is 350 and one is 200 have no shame in asking them to adjust the prices to 290 and 260 etc.
in this scenario you have outlined yourself, yes this is cooking books and falsifying figures
Each item is treated separately. You could have a thousand items at $299 each and they could all be immediately claimed.
And what if I have items C and D added. Each if these will be below $300. Can I thus claim back all costs for each item A, B, C and D or is there a limit for personal tax return claim (and all items will be 100% work use) please ?
??
?? I want to buy a chair, 2 monitors and a printer. Each will be $299. Can I claim all 4 back 100% in my 2020 tax return ? Thx
Yes if u use them for work 100 percent, otherwise pro rata them.
Both @ $250