ATO – Rental Expenses

You can claim a deduction for certain expenses you incur for the period your property is rented or is available for rent.
However, you cannot claim expenses of a capital nature or private nature – although you may be able to claim decline in value deductions or capital works deductions for certain capital expenditure or include certain capital costs in the cost base of the property for capital gains tax (CGT) purposes.

Types of rental expenses
There are three categories of rental expenses – those for which you:
• cannot claim deductions
• can claim an immediate deduction in the income year you incur the expense
• can claim deductions over a number of income years.
For a detailed understanding of all rental property expenses we recommend that you visit the following web link of the ATO and download a copy of their 2008

http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/IND00133187n17290608.pdf

This guide explains how to treat rental income and expenses, including how to treat more than 230 residential rental property items. ■