Blog / Leadership
Making sure you run a tight ship, Paul Siderovski
with Paul Siderovski - Sidcor Chartered Accountants
PAUL SIDEROVSKI from SiDCOR Chartered Accountants delivers cutting edge accounting tax and business strategies to some of the most profitable real estate agents and agencies in Australia. He has identified five areas that you can focus on to make your business more profitable.
Structure
Paul says, “The biggest thing that I see that hurts small business owners and real estate agents is structure. Have you got a separate entity for the rent roll? Have you got a separate entity for sales? Are you a corporation? Do you have a trust part of your structure and are you utilising it correctly? Depending on the size of your business, you can go back two years or four years because it is self-assessment. Every client I've done a review for has overpaid tax or is incorrectly structured. Every one of them. 76 per cent of those clients paid double the tax they should have. That sickens me because you're in small business, you're in pain, you've got cash flow, you're paying creditors and you're paying more tax than you have to.”
Family
Paul suggests utilising your family tax effectively to minimise your tax. He explains, “It's such an easy one. Using your family and being structured correctly allows you to utilise the benefits and it is probably one of the easier things that I can go and add value in a real estate business, because they're not structured from day one”.
Paul says, “Even today, I saw a new client and it was exactly the same thing - they weren't structured or using their family to actually save $30,000 per annum. For me, that pains me, to go, “Wow, they're working so hard and they're giving it away to the tax man.” Using your family, asking better questions that you won't know, that we know to ask for, can actually save you thousands and thousands”.
Superannuation
Paul advises that depending on your age, you should utilise superannuation. He says, “If you're only that 55 year old age and you've got commercial property that you're running the real estate business through, it's a game changer. You can buy property and borrow now through your superannuation fund. You've got to tap into that”.
Depreciation
Again, Paul says, “This is such a simple one. Putting you into STS, simplified tax system, you get accelerated depreciation. It's massive for cars. Every real estate agent has a car. That's a major upside there with depreciation that often gets missed by so many accountants”.
Incorrect wages structure
Paul believes that if you're running your own business and you're paying yourself wages, you're paying too much tax. He says, “It's as simple as that. Taking wages as opposed to a different way of getting it, depending on the structure, you're over paying tax. It's a killer. With the right structure, you'll pay less tax”.
Get the right people in the right roles
Paul advises, “Don't go and put a sales guru into a management role because they won't do well at it. You’ve got to get the people that do what they love, get them in the right role and they will thrive, they will help your business, you will make more profit and with the right structure, you'll pay less tax”.
← Go back
