Originally Posted by
fungus pudding
It is far from that simple, and a lot depends on length of ownership. For instance if you buy a property and six months later reroof it; the IRD will almost certainly rule this as a capital expense that would have been calculated into the price paid by the buyer. So the property was purchased at a discount and the new roof simply adds to the capital. However if you reroof a propeerty after twenty years of ownership you are far more likely to get away with claiming it as R and M. In general the same applies to a kitchen bench. But while there are guidelines, firm hard and fast answers aren't easily obtained. Caution, and dare I say a little imagination, in the way your accounts are written out will help. The word 'repair' looks better than 'replace', and a large bill for plumbing work looks better if the new bench and joinery isn't precisely itemised. But don't push you luck too far with that sort of thing. .