News

The ATO has issued an information sheet to let taxpayers know that money earned from renting out a room in a house is rental income. This applies to rooms rented by traditional means or through a sharing economy website or app. Also, taxpayers can only claim expenses related to the part of the house they...

The ATO has reported that the building and construction industry represents a disproportionate amount of its debt book, and has identified worrying trends that affect the industry. Clients in the industry are encouraged to contact us regarding outstanding debts, as the ATO may be able to offer a range of payment options to help them...

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and the ATO have entered into an agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information (based on the ‘Common Reporting Standard’). This automatic exchange of financial information will commence by September 2018.

The Treasurer has ordered the sale of a further 16 Australian residential properties that have been held by foreign nationals in breach of the foreign investment framework. “The 16 properties were purchased in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, with prices ranging from approximately $200,000 to $2 million. “The individuals involved come from...

The Department of Human Services (DHS) (which operates Centrelink) has launched its ‘Non Employment Income Data Matching project’, matching income data it collects from “customers” with tax return related data reported to the ATO. This project will assist the DHS to identify social welfare recipients who may not have disclosed income and assets to the...

In a recent case before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), amended assessments issued to a taxpayer by the ATO, which were based on the amounts of unexplained deposits to the taxpayer’s bank accounts (in some years, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, in others, millions), have been largely upheld. The total further tax claimed...

Goods imported into Australia – often by consumers using the internet – which cost less than $1,000 are currently GST-free. On May 3 2016, as part of its package of Budget Night announcements, the Federal government proposed that, as of 1 July 2017, this low-value threshold (‘LVT’) of $1,000 will be abolished. The removal of...

Earlier in the year, we reported that an unknown source had leaked 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm of Mossack Fonseca – these are now referred to as the ‘Panama Papers’. Basically, the documents illustrated how many wealthy individuals are hiding their money and income from tax authorities around the world. The Commissioner...

From 1 July 2016, if you invest in a qualifying early stage innovation company (ESIC), you may be eligible for tax incentives. The tax incentives provide eligible investors who purchase new shares in an ESIC with a: • non-refundable carry forward tax offset equal to 20% of the amount paid for their qualifying investments. This...

The biggest change is the complete scrapping of the controversial $500,000 Lifetime Cap on non-concessional amounts. The government has been under intense pressure since the lifetime cap was announced, due to the harsh and retrospective nature of potentially including all contributions from 1 July 2007. It angered many voters and politicians on both sides of...