What is the future for Negative Gearing?
Added on by Etairos Accounting
The ALP recently announced its proposed amendments to negative gearing policy which would see the benefits associated with negatively geared property investments restricted to only newly constructed properties from 1 July 2017. In addition, they propose to reduce the capital gains discount on offer to assets producing taxable gains that are held for more than 12 months from 50% to 25%.
Currently over 1.3 million taxpayers have negatively geared concession claims in their tax returns, but only 7% of new investment loans are used for new housing, whilst a whopping 93% are for purchases of existing stock.
The proposal in effect has the impact of cracking down on high-income tax concessions, but may have a significant impact on housing prices. Investors who want to take advantage of the negative gearing benefits after 1 July 2017 would need to purchase new properties, meaning that there could possibly be an increase in the value of newly constructed properties, but equally the market for older homes would become less attractive to investors, so the prices of these older properties may fall with the reduced demand.
The proposed policy will potentially assist in job opportunities in new construction projects, but may have a bigger impact of the property market overall. The last time there was a cut to negative gearing on rental properties, it was reinstated within a few months because it was argued to have had such a devastating impact on the rental market.
The proposed policy will see existing negatively geared arrangements grandfathered at the changeover time of 1 July 2017, meaning that the existing benefits being achieved by taxpayers who hold rental properties that are not new will continue to benefit as before, and only newly acquired second hand properties will be impacted.
The LNP are yet to move on any tax reform measures, but there are quite a number of steps involved (Labour winning government, Law be introduced and approved) before any adoption of the proposal, so no need to panic just yet!
If you have any questions about any aspect of negative gearing, proposed or otherwise, don't hesitate to contact our office. We'll be happy to answer all your questions.
