Private ruling: Ruling Rental deductions - interest
Date of advice: 15 May 2020
Published: June 2020
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2019 | Year ending 30 June 2020 | Year ending 30 June 2021 | Year ending 30 June 2022
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2018

Ruling: Q1: Is the interest on a loan taken out to purchase a rental property deductible when the loan funds have been temporarily held in an offset account attached to this loan prior to purchasing the rental property? | A1: Yes. Your share of the interest expenses you incur relate to your rental property and are deductible to the extent to which the funds are used in relation to the rental property.

Relevant facts and circumstances: Your partner refinanced a loan for an existing rental property solely owned by them in 20XX. This property was used as security to create a separate loan account with an offset deposit account. The funds for the new loan were deposited to the offset account in full. Therefore any interest charge accruing on the loan was offset by a credit from the funds held in this account. You later purchased a XX% share in another rental property with your partner. The funds remained in the offset account until the money was withdrawn from it to partly fund the purchase of the second rental property. The interest on the loan was then no longer being fully offset by the deposit funds and interest begun accruing on it. The property became available for rent in 20XX and is currently rented at market rates to unrelated tenants.

Relevant legislative provisions: Section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997)