News

The ATO is increasing attention, scrutiny and education on work-related expenses (WREs) this tax time. Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson said: “We have seen claims for clothing and laundry expenses increase around 20% over the last five years. While this increase isn’t a sign that all of these taxpayers are doing the wrong thing, it is...

From 1 July 2017, GST applies to imported services and digital products from overseas, including: digital products such as streaming or downloading of movies, music, apps, games and e-books; and services such as architectural, educational and legal. Australian GST registered businesses will not be charged GST on their purchases from a non- resident supplier if...

Parliament has passed legislation which applies GST to goods costing $1,000 or less supplied from offshore to Australian consumers from 1 July 2018. Using a ‘vendor collection model’, the law will require overseas suppliers and online marketplaces (such as Amazon and eBay) with an Australian GST turnover of $75,000 or more to account for GST...

From 1 July 2017, where a foreign resident disposes of Australian real property with a market value of $750,000 or above, the purchaser will be required to withhold 12.5% of the purchase price and pay it to the ATO unless the seller provides a variation (this is referred to as ‘foreign resident capital gains withholding’)....

The Government will seek to legislate to close a loophole that could be used by unscrupulous employers to short-change employees who choose to make salary sacrificed contributions into their superannuation accounts. The Government will introduce a Bill into Parliament this year that will ensure an individual’s salary sacrificed contributions do not reduce their employer’s superannuation...

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...