Big time breeders

[BluJay]

Lovely, Matcho, reminds me of the good ole country boys back home. I feel the same about entrusting my animals with anyone, even a vet, some of those got their license out of a cracker jack box. And if they screw up they won't admit or negate a bill, just blame the animal.
It's great to have someone you can trust to fill in for you, like both you and E Orix have stated.
On the same note, I would find it hard to believe that they do not have tax planning here. And that some breeders have ABN, to take advantage of of it. As well as, as to purchase at whole sale prices.

Gomer, I can understand where you are coming from. I believe everyone has the right to run a business from their home. As to the investment made that cannot be wrote off: you would simply rent to your business, both equipment and square footage. Who knows, maybe I'm off base. However, I have kept receipts for everything, down to a screw, and recorded them in Dome Simplified Record keeping program, and will see what tax preparer has to say.

[finchbreeder]

My mother is a medium scale budgie breeder and was told some time ago that if you make a profit from your birds you have to declare it to the tax mob. So being a retired pensioner of the very honest kind she started to keep a record book. Birds bought, birds sold, seed bought etc. Yes she has occassionally made a small profit for a short time. But in no financial year has she actually come out in front overall. Very close to even some years but that is all. For fun she keeps the same records of her weekly Bingo, and guess what? It runs at just under a profit too. No the books are not cooked in either case. Hobbys done wisely by someone who has had to be financially careful are just like this.
LML

[BluJay]

That's good finchbreeder, and in part is my point: to be able to take the losses, expenses on taxes to reduce the amount one would have to pay in tax, and possibly getting larger portion of tax paid in back.

Example being, I would have to take anything 200.00 or lesss in the same year. Anything over 200.00 (even one cent) would have to be set up on depreciation. The higher the cost the longer the depreciation. So investing in equipment to get the deprecation is good thing, When you can use on your personal tax, reducing amount owed. Like last year business in states generated nearly 12,000.00 refund. So buy more and better equipment, with refund, for depreciation.

Avoiding tax is legal, this is what the wealthy do, and people on a shoe string can too. Evading tax on the other hand is not.

PS: a good friend of mine, Linda, is into bingo and those scatch off lottery tickets and three times smacked it with 17,000 twice and another for 20,000. All her unsuccessful scratch off tickets, and bingo reciepts were used to reduce the amount of tax she had to pay on her winnings.

[E Orix]

In theory if you have an alternative taxable income your birds can be listed as a hobby.
If on the other hand you do not then possibly it could be taxable.
By the way I am not talking about the larger Parrot breeders etc.
Several years ago from memory some one/s in the Taxation Dept. decided that hobbies should all be taxable.
Good in theory until some smarties in the horse racing fraternity decided that the money spent and stock loss(not betting)
were for their hobby and started to use them as tax deductions. End of that smart idea.
For the backyard breeder the gain is not worth the effort either way. Fortunately our tax department doesn't
seem as ruthless as the I.R.S.

[BluJay]

E Orix, thought we were talking about about big time breeders. But I'm sure some back yard breeders open a can of whoop arse on successful breeding, and if they are working and investing in their hobby/business, looking for ways to avoid tax with it would be wise.
Look at what was done to traditional families here. Anyone born after the first of July 1952, can no longer claim their spouse as a dependant. Now that's ruff.
The more deductions they take away - the more I look for.

[gouldianpaul]

In theory if you have an alternative taxable income your birds can be listed as a hobby.
If on the other hand you do not then possibly it could be taxable.
By the way I am not talking about the larger Parrot breeders etc.
Several years ago from memory some one/s in the Taxation Dept. decided that hobbies should all be taxable.
Good in theory until some smarties in the horse racing fraternity decided that the money spent and stock loss(not betting)
were for their hobby and started to use them as tax deductions. End of that smart idea.
For the backyard breeder the gain is not worth the effort either way. Fortunately our tax department doesn't
seem as ruthless as the I.R.S.

Now I've heard everything....finch breeders giving tax advice. The fact it is a hobby and the small scale of it's nature is the reason the ATO leave us alone, but I'm sure if you were producing $30K+ income from it the ATO would be within their authority to look at your operations.....if the income is regular and reliable then the ATO is able to claim tax payable.....period.

I remember when I was a kid (in the 80's) we had an old budgie breeder "acquire" a couple of English style budgies....this was before they allowed the import of English stock. Well to cut a long story short this old guy who struggled to win a color class in the Novice section for most of his life produced 3 or 4 magnificent budgies that took out all the major championships. The next year he did the same and everyone wanted some of his birds. At the end of the 2nd year of his dominance he cashed in...selling his unwanted stock for $80K+...in 1989 that bought you a decent house in Melbourne. Well someone dobbed him into the ATO and he had some major problems because he had sold more than $80K worth of budgies for 2 years in a row....ATO claimed it was regular and reliable and hit him with a tax bill. Some claimed the Kama train stopped at his station as the method by which he acquired his original English style budgies was the subject of many rumours...eg egg smuggling.

Getting back on topic, I would have thought that if a breeder is producing 500+ birds a year that would qualify them as a "big time breeder"...I'm assuming we are talking birds above small change value that is.

Cheers
Paul

[E Orix]

I just couldn't be bothered with the paper work, all I know is the tone of seed I got today cost me $1100+ which means I need to
breed birds to cover my costs.
Any way it's my hobby and interest and if I cover costs or can buy an expensive pair of birds then I am happy.
The hobby has given me 60 years of enjoyment, kept me sane when business pressure built up,it was my pressure relief.
Even now I still get that buzz when I see young that have just fledged no matter if it is a Zebra Finch or one of my Weavers.