News

Bill Shorten has announced that he intends to impose a ‘minimum tax rate’ of 30 per cent on distributions made from discretionary trusts to adult beneficiaries as an effort to ‘crackdown’ on income splitting and tax minimisation by high wealth individuals if Labor get elected. Whilst details of the actual rules are very sketchy, if...

Casual Employees May Be Entitled To Super Employing casual workers provides businesses with an increased level of flexibility. However, it’s important to remember that casual employees may be entitled to super. Here’s the basics: – You may need to pay super guarantee (SG) regardless of whether your employee is full-time, part-time or casual. – If...

Making GST Reporting Easier To simplify reporting, the ATO are reducing the amount of GST information needed on your Business Activity Statement (BAS). From 1 July 2017, the ATO will automatically transition your GST reporting method to Simpler BAS if your GST turnover is less than $10 million. This means you will only need to...

General Year End Tax Planning Strategies Business Income and Expenses Subject to cash flow requirements, consider deferring income until after 30 June, especially if you expect lower income for 2017/18 compared to 2016/17. Most businesses are taxed on income when it is invoiced. Some small businesses may be taxed only when income is received. Income...

Income Tax Changes – Small Businesses Tax Rates The tax rate for small business entity companies has been reduced to 27.5% for the 2017 financial year, down from 28.5% in the 2016 year. To be eligible for this rate, you need to be considered a “small business entity.” To meet this definition, you must: ▪...

Overview The 2017–2018 Budget contained a number of measures designed to improve Australians’ access to secure and affordable housing across the housing spectrum. These include: strengthening the CGT rules to reduce the risk that foreign investors avoid paying CGT in Australia; introducing a 50% cap on pre-approved foreign ownership in new developments; applying an annual...

No major new super measures, but 1 July reforms loom large The Government did not announce any new major superannuation measures in the Budget. This will be a welcome relief for the super industry, which already has enough on its plate with major reforms set to start on 1 July 2017. As is the case with any large-scale...

No change to personal tax rates; Budget deficit levy to end The 2017–2018 Federal Budget contained no changes to the personal income tax rates and thresholds. This means that the 2% budget deficit levy on incomes over $180,000 will not be extended beyond its initial three years, and will cease on 30 June 2017. The...

In addition to marketing and education activities to re-enforce the need for employers to meet their SG obligations, the ATO conducts audits and reviews to ascertain SG non-compliance, with 70% of cases stemming from employee notifications (the remaining 30% of cases are actioned from ATO-initiated strategies). On average, the ATO receives reports from employees which...

In a recent case, the Federal Court has agreed with the ATO that ‘ride-sourcing’ (such as that provided using Uber) is ‘taxi travel’ within the meaning of the GST law. The ATO has advised people who are taking up ride-sourcing to earn income should: keep records; have an Australian business number (ABN); register for GST,...