Many lodgement and payment deadlines are looming for business including those relating to Activity Statements, Superannuation, and more…..
January 2019
15 January – Due date for lodgement of income tax returns for companies and trust that were taxable medium to large businesses in the prior year and are not required to lodge earlier. If you fail to lodge by the due date, your 2018/2019 income tax return will be due on 31 October 2019
21 January – Due date for lodgement and payment of December 2018 monthly Activity Statements
28 January – Due date for October-December 2018 Superannuation Guarantee contributions to be made to a complying fund on behalf of your employees
31 January – Final date for lodgement of October-December 2018 TFN report for closely held trust for TFNs quoted to a trustee by beneficiaries
February 2019
21 February – Due date for lodgement and payment of January monthly Activity Statements
28 February – Due date for lodgement and payment of October-December 2018 quarterly Activity Statements, including electronic lodgments
28 February – Due date for lodgement and payment of Annual GST returns or Annual GST information reports – if you do not have an income tax return lodgment obligation
28 February – Due date for lodgement and payment of income tax return for selp-preparing entities that were not due at an earlier date. If you fail to lodge by this date, your 2018/2019 return will be due by 31 October 2019
28 February – Due date for lodgement and payment of income tax returns for medium to large businesses (taxable and non-taxable that are new registrants)
28 February – Due date for lodgement and payment Superannuation Guarantee Charge Statement if you failed to pay Superannuation Guarantee charge on time for the October-December 2018 quarter. Superannuation Guarantee Charge is not deductible.
Where one of these dates falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the due date is extended to the next business day except in the case of Superannuation Guarantee contributions. STP if fnally here!
From 1 July 2018, all employers with 20 or more employees (as at 1 April 2018), must report their payroll information to the ATO via Single Touch Payroll. STP is a reporting change for employers. Essentially, STP requires that each time an employer pays their employees, they will have to instantly report to the ATO information such as the salaries and wages, pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and superannuation. The information will need to be reported from software, which is STP-enables. Eventually this will mean:
- Employers will not need to provide Payment Summaries to their employees for the payments reporter through STP.
- Employees will be able to view their payment information in ATO online services, which they will access through their myGov account.
- Some labels on Activity Statements will be pre-filled with the information already reported.
NB employers with less than 20 employees (as at 1 April 2018) your STP start date will be 1 July 2019.
To finish reading this article – log into the Members Area and see your July/Aug Newsletter edition page 11
Not a member – SIGNUP NOW and have access to this and many other tax planning & tax saving articles https://mytaxsavers.com.au/plans/subscriptions/ 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 salary sacrifice contributions, are deductible to your employer not you). Before this date, you could only claim a deduction for your personal contributions where less than 10% of (a) your assessable income (b) your reportable fringe benefits and (c) your reportable emaployer superannuation contributions (e.g. salary sacrifice contibutions) for the year were from being an employee – this was known as the “10% Rule”. This rule prevented most employees from claiming a tax deduction for their personal after-tax superannuation contributions.
To claim a deduction, the standard requirements that existed under the old rules must also be satisfied as follows:
- Age – All individuals under the age of 65 are eligible. Those aged 65 to 74 must meet the superannuation ‘work test’ (work for at least 40 hours in a period of not more that 30 consecutive days in the financial year in which you plan to make the contribution). For those aged 75, the contribution must be made no later than 28 days after the end of the month in which you turn 75 . Older tax payers are ineligible.
- Minors – If the individual is under 18 at the end of the income year in which the contribution is made, they must derive income in that year from being an employee or carrying on a business.
- Compying Fund – The contribution must be made to a complying superannuation fund.
- Notice Requirements – To claim the deduction you must provide your superannuation fund with a Notice of intention to claim a deduction form before you lodge your tax return in respect of that financial year.
Note that the maximum deduction that you can claim is $25,000. This is the amount of the concessional contributions cap. As well as your after-tax contributions, included in the $25,000 cap are:
- Employer contributions (including the compulsory 9.5% Superannuation Guarantee (SG) and salary sacrifice), and
- Certain amounts transferred from a foreign superannuation fund to an Australian superannuation fund (this won’t affect most taxpayers).
Fo example, if you earned $50,000 for the year from your job, and your employer contributed $4,750, then in effect the maximum amount you could contribute and claim as a deduction would be $20,250 ($25,000 cap, minus $4,750).
https://www.ato.gov.au/forms/notice-of-intent-to-claim-or-vary-a-deduction-for-personal-super-contributions/ 