Dear Lifehacker, There’s a lot of talk about what will happen to the NBN project now that the Coalition government is in. I’m wondering: if I now have to pay for the privilege of having fibre installed to my house or an investment property, can I claim this on tax? And if I can, would it be a one-off thing, or work under a depreciation model where it’s claimed in part over a number of years? Thanks, Tax Tactics
Home office picture from Shutterstock
Dear TT,
Short answer: you could, potentially, but it depends on the exact circumstances.
While the Coalition policy definitely does leave open the possibility of individual buildings (homes or businesses) paying extra to have a fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connection rather than the fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) model that is assumed to be the default wherever the copper connection is sufficient, we don’t yet have a pricing model for what that will cost. The cheapest estimates are around $900; the costliest $5000.
Whatever the final cost, standard tax rules will apply. (If you want specific tax advice for your situation, ask an accountant; we’re commenting on general principles here.)
- If you’re connecting the NBN to your business premises, claiming those costs against income is non-controversial — it’s simply another business expense.
- Similarly, if you’re the owner of a rental property, adding NBN connectivity qualifies as an improvement which could be offset against rental income.
- You’d only be able to claim for a home NBN connection if you maintain a home office and use that for work, or if your employer requires you to have high-speed connectivity available (say you’re a support worker who might have to hook into IT systems). In that case, you can only claim a proportion of the expenses, and you’d need evidence such as a diary. This is no different to the current situation regarding internet expenses; you can potentially claim them, but you need to prove you need them for work, and have some idea what portion of your overall home usage is due to work. Trying to claim them in their entirety is likely to raise a red flag.
Depreciation is a more complex question. Small businesses with a turnover of under $2 million can claim items under $6500 immediately rather than depreciating them, which appears to cover even the highest estimates. Those rules may not apply if you’re an income earning using a home office, though since you’ll potentially only be claiming a portion of the amount the total might also be smaller.
Given the potentially long life of an NBN utility box, a chat with your accountant would definitely be in order — but it will be quite a few months before that’s possible (it might not even happen this financial year).
Cheers
Lifehacker
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5 responses to “Ask LH: Can I Claim My NBN Installation Costs Against Tax?”
I have started a petition to strongly urge the coalition government to reconsider their FTTN NBN proposal in favour of a superior FTTH NBN. Please show your support for this issue by signing the petition and leaving any comments/thoughts at the following link:
http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/the-liberal-party-of-australia-reconsider-your-plan-for-a-fttn-nbn-in-favour-of-a-superior-ftth-nbn
Please spread the word, and refer as many of your friends and family as possible. Additionally, feel free to raise further concerns to Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, and the coalition government by sending them an email or written letter to the addresses below.
Tony Abbott:
phone: (02) 6277 4022
fax: (02) 6277 8562
website/email: http://www.tonyabbott.com.au/ContactTony.aspx
address: Parliament House
RG109
Canberra ACT 2600
Malcolm Turnbull:
phone: 02 6277 4144
fax: 02 6277 8445
website/email: http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/contact
address: PO Box 6022, House of Representatives
Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600
Liberal Party Federal Secretariat:
phone: 02 6273 2564
fax: 02 6273 1534
email: [email protected]
address: PO Box 6004,
Kingston ACT 2604
Thank you for your support.
is this real???
It is for real. It’s been up around 48 hours and currently 70K signatures strong, and climbing rapidly (was 25K this morning).
It should be noted that the Fibre On Demand option the Coalition mentioned as part of it’s FTTN plan is not the same as FTTP. Instead of using the copper for the last mile connection from the node, you’re instead using fibre. You’re still limited by the node itself – the electronics inside it (which converts the light from your fibre into electricity, then back to light to put on the distribution fibre), as well as bandwidth contention issues (you’re sharing the distribution fibre from the node with everyone else connected to that node). Contrast that to FTTP where it’s light all the way back to the service provider
Anyone have some information on the new NODES the FTTN plan will use?
I can’t seem to find anyone with any accurate knowledge of the new type of Nodes for FTTN.