General
You should keep records of both income and expenses relating to your rental property.
Records of rental expenses must be in English, or be readily translatable into English, and include the:
- name of the supplier
- amount of the expense
- nature of the goods or services
- date the expense was incurred
- date of the document.
If a document does not show the payment date you can use independent evidence, such as a bank statement, to show the date the expense was incurred.
You must keep records of your rental income and expenses for five years from 31 October or, if you lodge later, for five years from the date you lodge your tax return. If at the end of this period you are in a dispute with us that relates to your rental property, you must keep the relevant records until the dispute is resolved.
Do not send these records in with your tax return. Keep them in case we ask to see them.
Capital gains tax
Keeping adequate records of all expenditure will help you correctly work out the amount of capital gain or capital loss you have made when a CGT event happens. You must keep records relating to your ownership and all the costs of acquiring and disposing of property. It will also help to make sure you do not pay more CGT than is necessary.
You must keep records of everything that affects your capital gains and capital losses. Penalties can apply if you do not keep the records for at least five years after the relevant CGT event. If you use the information from those records in a later tax return, you may have to keep records for longer. If you have applied a net capital loss, you should generally keep your records of the CGT event that resulted in the loss until the end of any period of review for the income year in which the capital loss is fully applied. For more information, see Taxation Determination TD 2007/2 – Income tax: should a taxpayer who has incurred a tax loss or made a net capital loss for an income year retain records relevant to the ascertainment of that loss only for the record retention period prescribed under income tax law?
You must keep records in English (or be readily accessible or translatable into English) that include:
- the date you acquired the asset
- the date you disposed of the asset
- the date you received anything in exchange for the asset
- the parties involved
- any amount that would form part of the cost base of the asset
- whether you have claimed an income tax deduction for an item of expenditure.
For more information about cost base and record-keeping requirements for capital gains tax purposes, see the Guide to capital gains tax 2014.