And now for the (very) good news. Wine is tax deductible

Just calling wine’s tax deductibility “very good news” feels a bit like saying that Australia is large when at 7.69million km2 it ranks sixth in the world in land mass.  So the wine thing is pretty huge.  There are some provisions, of course.  You can’t simply park yourself at your favourite wine bar for the afternoon and loudly declare, “…and the government will pick up the tab.”

So having breathlessly explained the rules around this phenomenon on a recent facebook live, we thought we’d share the news once again, but this time at the laptop – with a merlot at my elbow.

 

We have to have rules, though

We were outside a local bottle shop a while back stocking up for a client event and wanted to welcome our 50+ guests with social drinks and so on.  It occurred to me to check with Ben if wine was tax deductible and as a single ray of sunshine burst through the clouds, a rainbow appeared just behind him, as he said:

“Client gifts are not classed as entertainment and because they (bottles of wine) are gifts (and) they are intended to be “consumed later or over time.”

Glorious!

 

Caution: deduct responsibly

Now for some, there may be a temptation to head down to the nearest bottle shop with a large van or ute, but the same rules of good business that we love and cherish, must still govern your purchasing decisions:  

  1. Know and respect your numbers and ensure that you are earning a multiple somewhere north of x4, for example, with regard to return on investment (ROI)
  2. Drink responsibly and encourage joyous recipients to do the same. (Keep that phrase, “consumed later and over time” in the back of your mind)
  3. Keep your receipt – during times of mad panic and overwhelming happiness it’s easy to forget the little things

So far as allowable deductions go, the wine purchase and gifting can be an economically sound alternative to the cripplingly expensive, 14 course degustation at (fill in your favourite fine dining restaurant).  Of course, the exquisitely-crafted taste sensations might do your palate a world of good but may leave a sour taste in the mouth when seeking out deductions and ultimately paying less tax.

In terms of saving you money and allowing you to chip away at your tax bill, we often ask people to:

  • Consider the value of the return on investment;
  • Understand what the actual client or customer really values; and must importantly,
  • Personalise the gift.  Just because our words about tax deductible wine were still ringing in your ears when you were thinking about gifts, you should still consider handwritten thank you notes and possibly inviting yourself around for a quiet wine later on.

Tip: Do read this article again later – you could be forgiven for only retaining the title and subtitle the first time around.

Pay Less, Little and No Tax in SMSF. It’s legal.

In every Self Managed Super Fund there are 2 sides.  An Accumulation side and a Pension side.

Using Harvee’s plane analogy from the beginning, the accumulation side or phase of an SMSF is when the fund is actively growing.  The same as when that plane is climbing to new heights.  You can’t touch any of that money while it’s in accumulation and that accumulation side has a set tax rate of 15% on what it earns.

So step 1 in controlling taxation is saving tax on contributions.

For example, I contributed $30,000 this year into my Family Super Fund – it’s called the Keshi Super Fund, named after a family dog I used to walk.

If I chose not to dump the $30K into super, I would have paid tax on that $30,000 at my highest marginal tax rate of 49%.

So by putting $30,000 towards my goal of becoming a Self Made Success, I saved $10,200 tax because as I’m in accumulation, I paid at only 15% instead of 49% – my plane is ascending!

Now fast forward 33 years and my wealth plane has been ascending higher and higher, it’s 2049 and I hit what is called preservation age, which means the government allows me to start accessing my super.

The plane begins its descent towards landing at retirement, so I am allowed to bring some of my assets in the SMSF over to the Pension side.

Any idea what the tax rate is on the Pension Side?

Zero percent.  Booyah!

So that $30,000 I contributed last year, not only did I save $10,200 on the contribution, but so too did the other 3 members in my Family Super Fund.

With the $120,000 now in the fund, from 4 members contributing $30,000, we used that as a deposit to buy a $500,000 Commercial Property.

If we held on to the property for 34 years, and let’s say it doubled in value over that time and it’s worth $1,000,000.

I can sell the property when the SMSF is in pension phase and pay ZERO tax on that $500,000 capital gain.

WOW, WOW, WOW.

Just to give you some context, If made the exact same property deal but brought it in my own name, outside of super, I would have had to pay $122,500 tax (based on my top marginal tax rate of 49%)

So that’s how the Accumulation side and Pension side of an SMSF work – 15% in accumulation 0% in Pension.

But that’s not all …

What if I told you we could use negative gearing inside of a Super Fund to turn that 15% tax rate in the accumulation phase, down to ZERO?

That is legit possible.

There’s thousands of us SMSF Millionaires who implement this strategy every day.

Week 3 of the Become a SMSF Millionaire, 12 week course the lesson is called “The SMSF Millionaire’s guide to paying Less, Little and even NO tax in your SMSF”.  It’s very hard to get ahead if 50c of every dollar you earn is going to the Tax Man.

 

You can watch the entire Become a SMSF Millionaire Web Class at www.smsfmillionaire.com/go

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