Is CBA "MISA" – "good"

Question

Hi,

You write about an offset-Account and its use to make sure the Loan’s interest remains claimable if the money is drawn out of the Offset account rather than the Loan account. This topic became completely clear to me however unfortunately It doesn’t seem that the Banks really can give me a proper answer if their Products really meet the criteria. I talked to CBA and they have an offer called CBA . If I understand them correctly they have a "savings" account which is used as an offset facility against the actual loan account. They have the same account number but a different BSB. From my perspective this offer would do the job (which in my case is that I want to be able to pull the money out at a later stage to buy a bigger home and rent out my original property and still be in a position to tax deduct the interest even though the reason I’ve pulled the money out was to buy a home to live in myself). However I’ve seen forum discussions on the internet that say it would not be a "real" offset account which makes me unsure. Can you confirm the CBA "MISA" Account meets the required criteria? If not can you tell me an offer of one of the big Australian bankts that works for that purpose?

Thanks

Joe

Answer

An offset account will work for tax purposes in the way you describe if it is a separate account from the loan account. For example separate statements. I contacted Don Sutherland an AFG broker who I have worked with for nearly 20 years and who I know fully understands how offset accounts work for tax purposes. Don said that “CBA is a little different to the rest of the banks, however their off-set account is definitely a separate account to the loan itself. Funds are in one account and the loan is in another so there is no mixing and therefore should not be an issue with the ATO”. Don’s phone number is 07 3806 8997 if you would like some advice on your other options. But in my opinion as long as there is something different about the account number that makes it a distinctly different account to the loan and you get separate statements so the balances are never shown as intermingled then you will be fine. Certainly a different BSB is distinctly different.