Important disclaimer
This article is general information only and does not constitute financial, tax or legal advice. Every investor's situation is different. You should not rely on this content when making investment or tax decisions — seek independent advice from a registered tax agent, accountant or financial adviser who understands your specific circumstances.
The investors who find tax time least stressful are not the ones who are most organised at tax time — they are the ones who were organised throughout the year. But if you are starting from a position of scattered records, the weeks before EOFY are the best time to address that.
The following steps are designed to take you from a pile of unsorted receipts and bank statements to a complete, accountant-ready package. Each step builds on the last. Work through them in order and you will arrive at your tax appointment with everything your accountant needs.
Reconcile your rent income
Start with income. Pull together all sources of rental income for the full financial year — direct bank deposits, agent net payments, short-term rental platform payouts and any other income from the property. Cross-reference these against your bank statements to confirm everything is accounted for. Look for gaps or months where rent was received late, paid in advance or in an unusual amount.
Gather every expense receipt
Go through your email, your downloads folder, your agent statements and your bank statements line by line. Every expense that relates to the investment property needs a supporting document. Group them by category: management fees, repairs, insurance, council rates, interest. If you find a transaction you cannot match to a receipt, contact the supplier for a reissue — banks and tradespeople can usually reproduce invoices.
Separate repairs from capital improvements
This distinction matters more than most investors realise. A repair that restores something to working order is generally immediately deductible. A capital improvement that adds to the property or extends its useful life is not — it is claimed as depreciation over time. If you have invoices that could fall into either category, flag them for your accountant rather than categorising them yourself.
Collect your loan interest figures
Contact your lender or log in to your bank to download the annual interest statement for each investment property loan. This shows total interest paid across the financial year and is one of the most significant deductions available. If you have an offset account linked to an investment loan, document its use carefully — mixing personal and investment funds in an offset account affects deductibility in ways that require professional advice.
Check your depreciation schedule
If you have a quantity surveyor depreciation schedule, review it with your accountant. If you made capital improvements during the year, the schedule may need updating before you can claim the correct amounts. If you have never commissioned a depreciation schedule for an older property, it is worth asking your accountant whether one would be worthwhile.
Review your ownership structure
Confirm how the property is held — individual, joint tenants, tenants in common with a percentage split, trust or SMSF — and that your accountant has the correct ownership details. If there were any changes to the ownership structure during the year, or if the property was refinanced or partially disposed of, flag these specifically.
Check for part-year scenarios
If the property was vacant for a period, rented at below-market rent, used for private purposes at any point, or acquired or sold during the financial year, these periods affect how income and expenses are apportioned. Document the dates and circumstances of any part-year use carefully — your accountant needs this to apportion deductions correctly.
Organise everything by property
The most useful thing you can do before meeting your accountant is to organise all documents by property, not by document type. One folder (physical or digital) per property, containing everything that relates to that property for the year. This makes the meeting faster, reduces the risk of something being missed, and makes it easier to answer questions like 'What did we claim for repairs on the Brisbane property last year?'
The one habit that makes every future year easier
Once you have done the work of getting organised, the easiest thing you can do is to maintain it. File receipts and invoices against the relevant property as they arrive — not in a pile to be sorted later. Reconcile your rent income monthly, not annually. Review your loan statements quarterly.
Property investors who do this arrive at tax time with a complete record and a short accountant meeting. Those who do not spend several hours each June recreating a year's worth of data from fragmented sources — and risk missing things in the process.
How Akweno helps
Akweno keeps every transaction, document and capital event organised by property throughout the year — so EOFY is a matter of exporting your records, not recreating them. Income and expenses are categorised as you enter them, loans are tracked separately and your document vault is always attached to the property it belongs to.
Reminder: The steps in this guide are general in nature. Tax rules and deductibility criteria vary depending on your personal circumstances, property structure and jurisdiction. Seek independent advice from a registered tax agent or accountant before making any tax-related decisions.