Latest News
ATO Recommends You Update Your ABN Details For Disastrous Reasons
The ATO has provided a novel, though important, reason for businesses to update their ABN details: to help businesses to manage the coming disaster season. ABN details are used by emergency services and government agencies to help identify and contact businesses during times of emergency and potential disaster. Therefore, to make sure they don’t miss […]
Super Guarantee Opt-Out For High Income Earners Now Law
From 1 January 2020, eligible individuals with multiple employers can apply to opt out of receiving super guarantee (‘SG’) from some of their employers, to help them avoid unintentionally going over the concessional contributions cap. If appropriate for them, they should submit the relevant ATO form to apply for an SG employer shortfall exemption certificate, […]
Measuring The Integrity Of The ABR
From September, the Australian Business Register (‘ABR’) will contact a random sample of ABN holders across all entity types to: confirm their business information; discuss how they use the ABN, and check their understanding of how ABNs are used; find out about their registration experience and ask for suggestions for how they can improve it; […]
Using The Cents Per Kilometre Method
The ‘cents per kilometre’ method broadly allows an individual taxpayer to claim up to a maximum of 5,000 business kilometres per car, per year without the need to keep any written evidence (e.g., receipts) of car expenses. Importantly, taxpayers making a ‘cents per kilometre’ claim are required to demonstrate that they worked out the number […]
ATO Impersonation Scam Update
According to the July 2019 ATO impersonation scam report: 6,179 online scam reports were received in the first month of their new online reporting form going live; 6,645 phone scam reports were officially recorded, and 465 phishing scam emails were reported to reportemailfraud@ato.gov.au; 520 taxpayers provided scammers with their personal identifying information including date of […]
Deductions For A Company Or Trust Home-Based Business
The ATO has reminded taxpayers that, if they run their home-based business as a company or trust, their business should have a genuine, market-rate rental contract (or similar agreement) with the owner of the property. The agreement will determine which expenses the business pays for and can claim as a deduction. If there isn’t a […]
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 […]