Property investors — Strategy
Property Investor Mortgage & Tax Strategy
One Chartered Accountant and Credit Representative scoping both sides of a property portfolio together — loan structure, rental income, deductibility context, CGT and land tax flags, recordkeeping and refinance strategy. The flagship one-roof engagement.
- First investment property
- Growing portfolio
- Restructure / refinance
- CGT awareness
- Land tax flags
- Trust / company ownership
Where information on this page combines tax and lending considerations, tax-related statements are general only and depend on individual circumstances. Eternity Group Accountants is a registered tax agent (TPB 25523469). Mr Rohan Manokaran (Credit Representative 565110) is authorised under Australian Credit Licence 561324. Seek personal tax and credit advice based on your situation.
The one-roof advantage
Property investing is where the model earns its fee.
Most investor mistakes are coordination mistakes between an accountant who never speaks to the broker and a broker who never speaks to the accountant. Doing both in one practitioner removes the gaps.
A typical property purchase has at least four moving parts that interact: the loan (structure, purpose, lender, serviceability), the title (individual, joint, trust, company), the cash-flow plan (rental income, holding costs, tax effects), and the recordkeeping discipline that supports the year-end return. Getting any one of these wrong is recoverable; getting two of them out of sync with each other is what creates the persistent issues that show up at audit, sale or refinance years later.
The Eternity Group practice runs the accounting and the broking sides under one Chartered Accountant who is also a Credit Representative. For property investors that means: loan structure decisions are made with full visibility of the tax position; loan purpose is documented before drawdown in a way that supports deductibility character; the rental schedule at year-end reconciles to the lender's rental treatment; and recordkeeping is set up correctly from day one rather than reconstructed at year-end.
This is the engagement model the practice was built around. For property investors specifically, it tends to be where the model is most useful.
Scope
What an investor strategy engagement covers.
Six areas of practical work, documented in a written strategy and reviewed annually as the portfolio evolves.
Loan structure
P&I vs IO · split · purpose · offset/redraw
Principal-and-interest vs interest-only (subject to lender policy), split between fixed and variable, purpose documented at drawdown, offset and redraw positioned to preserve the deductibility character of the borrowing.
Entity & ownership
Individual · joint · trust · company
Trade-offs between ownership structures for asset protection, lender appetite, CGT treatment, land tax exposure, and intergenerational planning. Decision documented for your specific situation — not generic.
Rental income & cash flow
Shading · holding costs · cash flow forecast
How lenders shade rental income, how holding costs (rates, insurance, body corporate, agent fees) are treated, and a written cash-flow forecast for the property year by year — both for serviceability assessment and tax position.
Deductibility context
Interest · expenses · borrowing costs · depreciation
General context on the deductibility of interest on borrowing used to produce assessable income, the treatment of expenses, borrowing costs amortised over 5 years (or term), and depreciation under Division 40 and Division 43. Personal tax advice for your specific position.
CGT & land tax flags
12-month discount · main residence · NSW thresholds
General flags on CGT positions under current law (the 12-month discount, main-residence exemption interaction, partial exemptions) and NSW land tax thresholds and surcharges by entity, confirmed for the relevant income year. Documented at strategy stage so they do not surprise you years later.
Recordkeeping
Documents · folders · year-end ready
A written recordkeeping plan for each property — what to keep, where, and for how long. Substantiation is a year-round discipline, not a year-end scramble.
Suited to
Investors this is built for.
First-time investors
Owner-occupiers preparing for the first investment property. Often the structure decisions made at this point dictate the next decade of portfolio mechanics — loan purpose, entity choice, offset positioning.
Established investors growing
Investors at 2–5 properties scoping the next purchase, refinance or restructure. Cross-collateralisation review, equity-release timing, lender shortlist rebalancing.
Portfolio consolidators
Investors reviewing what to sell, what to refinance and what to restructure. CGT timing, land tax exposure across the portfolio, entity changes — all handled in one engagement.
Self-employed property investors
Business owners and contractors using business cash flow to fund property purchases. Tax position, business borrowing, personal borrowing and rental income coordinated by the same practitioner.
Process
From scoping call to written strategy — typically 3–6 weeks.
A short, focused engagement that produces a portable written document. Annual review keeps the strategy current as the portfolio evolves.
Scoping & data
Current portfolio (entities, loans, rental cash flows), prior-year returns, current decisions on the table. Fixed fee confirmed in writing.
Position review
Current-year projected tax position. Lending position across the portfolio. Land-tax and CGT exposure by entity. Documented as a current-state map.
Strategy & scenarios
Scenarios modelled for each decision: next purchase, refinance, restructure, sale. Loan structure recommendation, entity recommendation, timing.
Written strategy
Strategy document with decisions, actions, dates and recordkeeping plan. Portable — written for you, not the next professional.
Implementation support
Execution of the parts that require lodgements (returns, structure changes, loan applications). Other actions documented for you to take.
Annual review
Re-run each year as actuals come in and circumstances change. Most engagements move to an ongoing relationship from this point.
Frequently asked questions
Property investor strategy — common questions.
A written engagement document covering: your current portfolio (entities, loans, rental cash flows), the decisions in front of you (next purchase, refinance, sale), the loan structure and lender shortlist for any new borrowing, the tax position implications (general — personal tax advice is provided through the engagement), and a recordkeeping plan that keeps the year-end return short and defensible. It is the engagement that ties the two sides of the practice together.
General information notice
Where information on this page combines tax and lending considerations, tax-related statements are general only and depend on individual circumstances. Eternity Group Accountants is a registered tax agent (TPB 25523469). Mr Rohan Manokaran (Credit Representative 565110) is authorised under Australian Credit Licence 561324. Seek personal tax and credit advice based on your situation.
How we are paid: Eternity Mortgage Solutions typically receives commissions from the lender for loans arranged on your behalf. A full explanation of how we are paid, our lender panel and any potential conflicts of interest is provided in our Credit Guide and Credit Proposal Disclosure document, available on request before any loan application is submitted.
Related
Where this fits in the bigger picture
Investor strategy is the flagship cross-cluster engagement. The connected pieces are investment property loans, tax planning, refinancing and the One Roof engagement itself.
- Guide
Guide: depreciation schedules explained
What a depreciation schedule is, how Division 40 and 43 work, and the quantity surveyor role. General information.
- Guide
Guide: offset vs redraw and tax
How an offset and a redraw can differ for loan deductibility, and why loan purpose matters. General information.
- Mortgage Broking
Investment property loan broker
The broker engagement for investors — loan structure, serviceability and portfolio fit, scoped alongside your tax position.
- Mortgage Broking
Mortgage broker for property investors
The investor broking service — lender investor policy, portfolio serviceability, interest-only and equity release.
- Mortgage Broking
Equity release for investors
Releasing usable equity for the next deposit, with loan-purpose discipline kept clean (general information only).
- Tax & Accounting
Accountant for property investors
The accounting side of the property-investor engagement — rental schedules, deductibility, CGT positioning and structure choice.
- Mortgage Broking
Tax-aware mortgage strategy
How loan structure and purpose are documented to support the tax position across a property portfolio.
- Mortgage Broking
Investment property loans
The lending side of the property investor engagement — loan structure, purpose, offset positioning, rental income shading.
- Tax & Accounting
Tax planning & strategy
Forward-looking tax planning — entities, super, CGT timing, pre-30-June actions — designed alongside the investor strategy.
- Mortgage Broking
Refinancing
Refinancing investment loans as the portfolio evolves — rate, structure, equity release, tax timing.
- Guide
How One Roof works
The engagement model that property investors get most use from. Read how it runs end-to-end.
- Property Investors
Building a property portfolio
Scaling from one property to several with tax and lending coordinated — equity recycling, serviceability ceilings, cross-collateralisation and structure.
- Mortgage Broking
Loans for trusts & companies
Lending where the borrower is a family trust or company — guarantor requirements, entity policy and document expectations. Lender policy applies.