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Upgrade before the EOFY and free up cash

Upgrade before the EOFY and free up cash
Upgrade before the EOFY and free up cash

This article is sponsored by LendingPro.

As a business owner, it makes sense that keeping income producing assets up-to-date is key to your efficiency and driving revenue. 

As technology develops at a faster rate, so too does the need for your business to regularly reassess revenue-generating assets in order to remain competitive.

Regularly upgrading equipment means continual investment. It means locking down working capital in purchased assets which may become obsolete, hard to sell or costly to dispose of. Furthermore, it freezes cash that could be otherwise used to maximise EOFY deal and tax-time savings, such as reducing your taxable income by pre-paying insurances or interest payments for the next financial year.

Fortunately, there are asset financing options to help you both increase productivity and free up cash, whilst taking advantage of tax benefits before June 30, 2018. 

Jenny’s business

There are a number of approaches you can take in financing equipment or vehicles before the end of financial year, each with their own advantages and tax-time benefits.
There are a number of approaches you can take in financing equipment or vehicles before the end of financial year, each with their own advantages and tax-time benefits.

Jenny and her family own and run a poultry farm. She’s looking to purchase a generator system for her poultry houses, however it is too expensive for her to buy outright and she may look to other power-generating options in the long term. Jenny opts for an operating lease. This way, she is able to get a state-of-the-art system without affecting her working capital and is able to claim the lease rental as a tax deduction. She also uses her freed up cash to pre-pay deductible expenses before EOFY, reducing her taxable income this financial year.

There are a number of approaches that, like Jenny, you can take in financing equipment or vehicles before the end of financial year, each with their own advantages and tax-time benefits.

Finance Lease

A finance lease means that the lender will purchase the equipment on your behalf. You will then pay the lease in instalments over a period of time. At the end of the lease you have the option of purchasing the asset (for a residual amount agreed at the beginning of the lease), trading in the asset for new equipment or simply ending the lease. If you look to purchase at the end of the lease, there is a risk that the asset will be worth less than the residual value.

Tax-time benefits of a finance lease:

Generally, you can claim the lease rental as a tax deduction. The lender pays the GST component, making your repayments lower.

Operating Lease

An operating lease is best for equipment that becomes outdated quickly. Jonathan Raymond, Director of LendingPro, advises, ‘An operating lease is ideal for equipment that needs regular replacement and reduces the risk that you will end up owning obsolete technology. At the end of the lease period, you simply return the goods to the lender. Unlike a finance lease, the risk of the market value being less than the residual value lies entirely on the lender.’

Tax-time benefits of an operating lease:

Claim the full lease payments as a tax deduction, meaning you could pre-pay a portion of your lease before June 30, 2018 to minimise you taxable income. Like finance leasing, your repayments will be lower as the lender pays the GST component.

Equipment and Vehicle Loans

Otherwise known as a Chattel Mortgage (a “chattel” is a moveable asset). An equipment or vehicle loan means the lender provides you the finance to purchase the asset which you will then own. The asset also acts as security for the loan, meaning there is less documentation and often no down payment required.

Tax-time benefits of equipment and vehicle loans:

Claim the interest payments on the life of the loan. Instantly write the asset off with the Instant Asset Write-Off Scheme for assets under $20k. There is no limit to how many times you can claim. For assets over $20k, claim depreciation on the equipment as to how it’s used in your business.

As you approach the end of financial year, do an assessment of equipment necessary to create revenue for your business. Is it already, outdated by new models or technology? Are there new more efficient tools? What are your competitors using?

By utilising asset finance you are not limited by available cash in your business, so you can have an agile response to developing technologies for a competitive offering. LendingPro can help you determine what sort of asset finance can work for you. Visit lendingpro.com.au or call 1300 998 555 to speak to a specialist loan advisor.

The information in this article is of a generalised nature, it is important that you obtain individual financial and tax advice for your own small business.

This article is sponsored by LendingPro.