2017/2018 is the first year that individuals can reduce their tax liability for the year by making a pre-1 July personal superannuation contribution.  To recap, new laws were introduced effective 1 July 2017 allowing all individuals up to age 75 to claim an income tax deduction for personal, after-tax superannuation contributions (pre-tax contributions, also known as… Read more »

Contrbuting to superannuation is still as popular as ever. Personal (voluntary) contributions in the December 2016 quarter (the latest available statistics) were $4,616 billion, up from $4,437 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Superannuation assets in aggregate were $2,199 billion at the end of the December 2016  quarter, up from the previous quarter… Read more »

Larger employers need to urgently prepare for the imminent introduction of Single Touch Payroll!    Employers with more than 20 employees as at 1 April 2018 must be STP-compliant by 1 July 2018. The employee headcount can in theory be done retrospectively if you have not already done so. It must include all employees that were… Read more »

In TD 2017/19, the ATO has set what is considers ‘reasonable’ limits for allowances paid in connection with overnight travel (see the tables at the end of this spcial edition). In such cases, the employee must sleep away from their home. The amount of the allowance depends on both your destination and your annual salary.… Read more »

SMALL BUSINESS ENTITIESSmall Business Entities have access to a range of GST concessions including accounting on a cash basis, paying GST by instalments, an annual apportionment of GST credits, and a new Simplified BAS. Are you taking advantage of these concessions?SBE Defination Extended!New law has now been passed by Parliament expanding the definition of Small… Read more »

The ATO has recenty published a list of behaviours and characteristics that may attract its attention. In order to minimise the chances of ATO scrutiny, this section provides the details.Capital Gains TaxCAPITAL LOSSESBroadly, the ATO is focussed on capital losses that on the face of it appear to be exaggerated, fabricated or misclassified; all with… Read more »

Housing affordability was a major focus of the 2017 Federal Budget. Among the measures announced was a tightening of some of the deduction rules around rental properties as follows:Rental Property TravelDeductions for travel expenses related to inspecting, maintaining or collecting rent for a residential rental propety will be disallowed from 1 July 2017. Before this… Read more »

Whilst the ability for a small business to change their legal structure without attracting a tax liability has been available for a little over 15 months, it may be one of those areas that small business and tax practitioners are still coming to terms with. This tax tip considers: The eligibility criteria;How the provisions work;… Read more »

CGT Small Business Restructure Rollover The increased SBE threshold of $10 million also applies to the rollover for restructures of SBEs. To recap, this measure allows SBEs to change their operating structure without incurring capital gains tax or other income tax liabilities. It does this by providing an optional rollover (deferring any CGT liability or… Read more »