The Tax Workshop is perfect for sole practitioners and small practices, offering practical, expert-led sessions designed to refresh your knowledge and keep you ahead in the ever-changing tax landscape.

The following topics will be covered in the October session:

Tax Brief

What we cover: Our Tax Brief is a review of the current tax landscape to keep you up-to-date with any changes and current news.

GST and Property Development

A property developer can carry out a one-off project or engage in a series of developments. The property development can be a new build or a renovation. Paying GST for purchases is mandatory; the obligation to collect GST arises if the developer is registered or required to be registered for GST – i.e. the developer is carrying on an enterprise and meets some threshold tests. A property development– whether big or small – takes time. Progress may be slow and it will not always be easy to work out whether the threshold tests have been met. Activity which incurs a GST cost can commence before the first clod of earth is turned and continue after the proceeds from the last sale have been received.

In this session we consider the GST obligations and liabilities of a taxpayer undertaking small-scale property development activities during the property development’s lifecycle:

• Pre-acquisition transactions – when activities are likely to constitute an enterprise for GST purposes, whether a person doing a ‘back yard’ development must register for GST and whether the margin scheme can be used
• Acquisition of the development site – deposits, settlement adjustments and other acquisition costs
• GST treatment of construction and other costs – holding costs, design, planning and approval and off- the-plan
• Sales disposal of the finished property – where there has been a change in intention regarding the property, the purpose of and how the ‘five-year rule’ works, using the margin scheme and the GST withholding rules

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.