NZ Herald 20 August 2005
Q&As: Should a youg woman put her savings into her rental mortgage or diversify?; How to get through to Inland Revenue; Take care when depreciating rental property.
Q&As: Should a youg woman put her savings into her rental mortgage or diversify?; How to get through to Inland Revenue; Take care when depreciating rental property.
Q&As: Risky to buy shares while waiting to buy a house; Is the gain on excess shares in an IPO taxable?; Rental property depepreciation and Inland Revenue.
Q&As: What chattels can be depreciated separately in a rental property?; Share trading and tax on capital gains.
Q&As: Pay off rental property mortgage as you approach retirement; When is a capital gain taxable?
Q&As: When to declare share trading profits; What to do if travel agent charges more for using a credit card; Different Visa rules in Australia, and how Visa operates.
Q&As: When does tax on capital gains apply to share investors?; When can share investors deduct newspapers and investment reports?; Are shops allowed to charge more if you use a Visa card?; The role of luck in house price rises.
Investing offhore not as risky as it seems. It’s an oft-quoted excuse for not investing offshore: If you do, you take on foreign exchange risk. But is it really risky?
Index funds still the best, despite tax changes. An ice cream is still delicious without the chocolate dip. The same goes for index share funds. Since they made an appearance in New Zealand in the late 1990s, these funds have had a tax advantage over the other type of share funds, called active funds. It seems likely that the tax advantage will be removed soon. But even if it goes, I still think index funds are best.
Rentals not necessarily as good as they seem. Rental property is sometimes an excellent investment. There, I’ve said it, for all those who reckon I’m anti-rentals! Often, though, rentals are not quite as good as people think — and not just because the tax breaks are over-rated, as I said in my last column.
Rental property tax breaks don’t amount to much. I don’t get it. Politicians and economists have been complaining lately that rental property has tax advantages over shares. It’s hardly a new claim. But what are these advantages — beyond depreciation, which is vastly overrated?