J.A.P TAXATION

Question: Can I Claim an expense paid or reimbursed by my employer? (Investment property series Q1) Answer: Normally If you are entitled to claim tax deduction for an expense which has been reimbursed or paid by your employer then it cannot be claimed by you as a tax deduction because your employer will claim that as a tax deduction. Refer to S. 51AH Of the ITAA 1936   There are some exceptions to this rule under which you can sacrifice your salary to get your employer to pay for an expense on your behalf and then both you and your employer can claim a tax deduction for the same expense. In the following cases, You and your employer both can claim a tax deduction for the same expense: (Refer to former TD 93/145 and TD 2005/D17: Non-business Income producing depreciable Asset: If you buy a depreciable asset costing less than $300 (E.G. a microwave for a rental property) and your employer reimburse you for that under salary packaging arrangement, then you can claim a d...

Q: When can I claim travel from home to workplace? Answer: Travel from home to workplace can be deductible only when the employee is “on call” and his/her work commences before leaving home. But the travel back to home will not be deductible because then the employee just worked at his/her workplace like any normal employee and then returned to home. If a worker has to travel to his work more than once a day but his/her work commences at reaching his place of work, then it is not deductible travel Example: 1 – Deductible: In court case of FCT vs Collings, the employee was an IT consultant whose employment required her to be on call 24 hours a day supervising a major conversion of computer facilities that her employer provided to the clients. It was common for her to receive calls at home and to give advice to workers at the office anytime to a problem occurred. If she was unable to resolve the problem over the phone or through her computer at home, then she woul...

You need to keep in mind the following rules in addition to the information required to be completed in the logbook Rules for Log book Circumstance Rule First year of using logbook You must keep a logbook during this income year. Logbook must be done for 12 weeks of the first income year otherwise you cannot use the logbook for this year unless next point applies. Using the car for less than 12 weeks before the end of the income year You can continue to keep the logbook in the following income year so that your logbook covers the required 12 weeks. Keeping logbooks for two or more cars The logbook for each car must cover the same period.