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Property and ‘lifestyle’ assets in the spotlight

  • additionaccounting
  • Sep 4, 2024
  • 2 min read

Own an investment property or an expensive lifestyle asset like a boat or aircraft? The ATO are looking closely at these assets to see if what has been declared in tax returns matches up.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has initiated two data matching programs impacting investment property owners and those lucky enough to hold expensive lifestyle assets.

Investment property

What investment property owners declare and claim in their personal income tax returns is a constant focus for the ATO. Coming off the back of data matching programs reviewing residential investment property loan data, and landlord insurance, the ATO have initiated a new program capturing data from property management software from the 2018-19 financial year through to 2025-26. Data collected will include:

  • Property owner identification details such as names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, email addresses, business name and ABNs, if applicable;

  • Details of the property itself - property address, date property first available for rent, property manager name and contact details, property manager ABN, property manager licence number, property owner or landlord bank details; and

  • Property transaction details - period start and end dates, transaction type, description and amounts, ingoings and outgoings, and rental property account balances.

While the ATO commit to specific data matching campaigns, since 1 July 2016, they have also collected data from state and territory governments who are required to report transfers of real property to the ATO each quarter.

This latest data matching program ramps up the ATO’s focus on landlords, specifically targeting those who fail to lodge rental property schedules when required, omit or incorrectly report rental property income and deductions, and who omit or incorrectly report capital gains tax (CGT) details.


Lifestyle assets

Data from insurance providers is being used to identify and cross reference the ownership of expensive lifestyle assets. Included in the mix are:

  • Caravans and motorhomes valued at $65,000 or over;

  • Motor vehicles including cars & trucks and motorcycles valued at $65,000 or over;

  • Thoroughbred horses valued at $65,000 or over;

  • Fine art valued at $100,000 per item or over;

  • Marine vessels valued at $100,000 or over; and

  • Aircraft valued at $150,000 or over.

The data collected is substantial including the personal details of the policy holder, the policy details including purchase price and identification details, and primary use, among other factors.


The ATO is looking for those accumulating or improving assets and not reporting these in their income tax return, disposing of assets and not declaring the income and/or capital gains, incorrectly claiming GST credits, and importantly, omitted or incorrect fringe benefits tax (FBT) reporting where the assets are held by a business but used personally.

 
 
 

12 Comments


Nancy Wheeler
Nancy Wheeler
5 days ago

I read the blog and it really opened my eyes to how the ATO is checking that property and big lifestyle items are reported right in tax returns, like investment homes and boats. I remember when I had to finish a big project, and I used Engineering Assignment Writing Service to help me get through the tough parts while also handling my own tax notes. It made me think that learning the basics early helps you deal with money stuff more confidently later.

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Erica Sinclair
Erica Sinclair
5 days ago

I found your post about property and lifestyle assets really eye-opening, especially how careful reporting is so important. It reminded me of a time I struggled with understanding financial terms in class and had to use English communication exam help services just to make sense of the concepts. It really showed me that breaking things down step by step makes complicated topics much easier to handle.

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Emma Foster
Emma Foster
5 days ago

I read the article and saw the ATO is checking investment properties and big lifestyle assets more closely so people report tax details right. I once struggled to sort my own tax notes and even used Hire professional research proposal editors when writing about tax for a school project. Reading this made me think I should keep better records for all assets and learn how tax rules can affect real life.

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Jan 05

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busnewstoday
Dec 24, 2025

Very well written and informative article on Cricbet99. The structure of the content is good, and the explanations are easy to grasp. I found the article useful and engaging. This kind of writing helps readers understand things better. Nice work.

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