Disclaimer: I am a financial planner, not a tax agent. This is not my area and I am not qualified to give advice in tax matters, apart from very basic issues that relate specifically to the types of recommendations that I make, though even then I often seek out a tax specialist if I want to know something out of the ordinary. The material that follows is of a very general nature and was sourced from my Diploma of Financial Planning lecture material, various CCH tax publications, stuff from the ATO web site and other sources. It is based on my current understanding of tax laws (as at February 2002), but carries no guarantee. Any mistakes you find are mine alone, and not the fault of any of the sources that I have based my information on. Material is provided "as is" for your own information, but I strongly recommend that you seek independent tax advice before taking any action based on what you read here. Another thing you should be wary of is that tax is the most rapidly changing section of this FAQ. While the principles of investment are pretty much timeless, tax FAQs have a tendency to become obsolete very quickly. I don't have the free time to constantly check that every little detail in this FAQ is kept up to date, so bear this in mind. The part of this FAQ most likely to date quickly will be any reference to thresholds of various sorts, including tax thresholds and index numbers etc. Many of these will change each year as they are linked to some measure of inflation (AWOTE, CPI, GDP etc) and hence will require at least annual updates. If you should spot last year's threshold somewhere don't hesitate to email me about it and I'll get it fixed, but just as good an idea would be to go direct to the ATO or a tax agent for your information. |
Investment FAQ