Latest News
Employers Need To Apply Recent Tax Cuts As Soon As Possible
| | | The ATO has now updated the tax withholding schedules to reflect the 2020/21 income year personal tax cuts – the updated schedules are available at ato.gov.au/taxtables. The ATO has said that employers now need to make adjustments in their payroll processes and systems in order for the tax cuts to be […]
Tax Cuts Pass Parliament
| | | The Government announced various tax measures in the 2020 Budget on 6 October 2020, and it was able to secure passage of legislation containing some of the important measures very shortly afterwards, as summarised below. The Government brought forward ‘Stage two’ of their Personal Income Tax Plan by two years, so […]
Special Coronavirus Superannuation Condition of Release Extended
| | | Regulations that extend the time frame of the special condition of release to access $10,000 from superannuation for individuals experiencing financial difficulties due to COVID-19 have been formally registered. The ability to withdraw up to $10,000 from superannuation (if certain conditions are met) was initially set to expire on 24 September […]
Tax Treatment of JobKeeper Payments
| | | Broadly, JobKeeper Payments received by an employer are assessable income to the employer. Likewise, the payments an employer subsequently makes to an employee that are funded (in whole or in part by the JobKeeper Payment) are generally allowable deductions to the employer. The ATO has recently issued some guidance for employers […]
Deduction for Work-Related Motor Vehicle Expenses Disallowed
| | | In a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, a taxpayer, Mr Bell, was a denied a deduction for $21,565.73 of work-related vehicle expenses for the 2016 income year. Mr Bell, was a construction worker who predominantly worked on a construction site in an eastern suburb of Melbourne and lived approximately 100 […]
Expanded Eligible Employee Definition For Jobkeeper
| | | Additional recently implemented JobKeeper changes mean more employees will qualify for JobKeeper payments from 3 August 2020. This is primarily because: the eligible employee test has been extended from 3 August 2020 to include eligible employees who were employed on 1 July 2020 (in addition to the original 1 March 2020 […]
Work-related expense claims rejected by Administrative Review Tribunal (‘ART’)
The Administrative Review Tribunal (‘ART’) recently disallowed a taxpayer’s claims for many different types of work-related expenses. The taxpayer was employed full-time as an engineer, working from home two days a week. For the 2023 income year, he claimed deductions totalling over $61,000, in relation to (among other things) car expenses, travel expenses, clothing expenses, […]
Check GST credit claims before lodging BASs
Taxpayers who are registered for GST can get GST credit claims (or ‘input tax credits’) for the GST included in the price of goods and services they buy for their business. However, if they buy something for both business and private use, they need to apportion their GST credit to only claim the business use. […]
Government payments programs
The ATO is reminding taxpayers that receive government payments for delivering services under a Commonwealth program, such as healthcare, disability support or child care, that they have an obligation to: keep accurate records; and report any such income they receive in their tax return. The ATO recently advised that it would be contacting taxpayers and […]
Contractors omitting income
Through data matching, the ATO is seeing some contractors incorrectly reporting or contractors omitting income. Contractors need to report all their income in their tax return, including payments made by businesses for their contracting work. Note that, as part of the taxable payments reporting system (‘TPRS’), certain businesses must lodge a ‘Taxable payments annual report’ […]
Businesses using cash to dodge obligations
The ATO is ‘cracking down’ on businesses that use cash to dodge obligations on their tax, employer and business. Businesses that do this may: – fail to report all sales transactions and fail to issue receipts; – avoid paying GST, income tax, PAYG withholding, super guarantee, insurance and work cover protection; – report their income […]
$20,000 instant asset write-off extended
Editor: The Government recently passed legislation to extend the $20,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses by 12 months to 30 June 2026. Taxpayers should note that if their business has an aggregated annual turnover of less than $10 million, they may be able touse the instant asset write-off (‘IAWO’) to immediately deduct the business […]