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Up to 31 March 2019, if you took in boarders you could use a standard cost to save having to keep records of your actual costs.

This has changed. From 1 April 2019, which is the year ending 31 March 2020 for most people, the tax department is providing:

1. A standard weekly cost which will be $186 to start and then adjusted annually.

2.   An annual housing standard cost which is calculated as 4 percent of the original cost of the property or if renting, the actual rent paid. If the property is owned by a family trust, costs are related to your actual expenditure to the trust. We won’t go into details here.

3.   Finally, you might find yourself using your car for business, in which case if you choose the standard cost method of calculating expenditure, you apply a kilometre rate.

In certain circumstances you cannot use the standard cost. One of these is when you have more than four boarders.

You can choose to ignore all this and use ‘actual costs’, which while that is more work, might give a more cost-effective result. Four percent of the original cost of a property for someone who has owned it for many years is likely to be a pittance.