goingau

been doing research on remortgages/buy to let for our current home in uk pending our move to Oz.
the last threads were back in 2012, anyone have newer expirences.

every so often with have Montfort international call making enquiries regarding our move. they have mentioned about making sure your uk mortgage is tax efficient for Oz.

Bermudashorts

What do they mean "tax efficient for Oz"?

goingau

yes lost a bit on me, i guess its to do with claiming for everything you repair/replace against Oz tax.

renting out a property is a very new area for me

Bermudashorts

Yes you would do that, but I would be asking what do they mean by a tax efficient mortgage. I hope they don't encourage you to take out one with high interest so that you get more tax deductions. If they do, change accountants or next they will be suggesting you ask your employer to reduce your salary as tat will reduce your tax too.

louie

If Montford are involved, they probably mean borrow as much as you can before you leave and then offset the interest against the rental income in your Australian tax return, conveniently forgetting that you can only deduct interest from a mortgage you used to buy the property in the first place (or a replacement thereof) in Australia (rules are a bit different in the UK). Don't touch Montford with a barge pole.

Fardell

I agree with the "barge pole" comment. If an individual is moving to Australia as a permanent rather than temporary resident ideally any "investment property" will be neutrally or negatively geared - that's to say making tax losses or break even. Otherwise the net income will be tax at the individual's marginal rate in Oz.

You can increase an initial mortgage and claim the additional interest expense but the funds have to be invested with the intention of earning interest, dividend or other investment income. Not, for example in a deposit for a new family house.

Alos bear in mind that you need to complete a UK tax return and also reflect the income and expenses in your Australian return.