Latest News
Streaming Trust Capital Gains and Franked Distributions
The ATO has stated that a trust’s capital gains and franked distributions can, if not prevented by the trust deed, be streamed to beneficiaries for tax purposes by making these beneficiaries “specifically entitled” (more below) to the amounts. This allows beneficiaries to offset capital gains with their capital losses, apply applicable discounts and, subject […]
ATO Waves a Red Flag On Deductions For Holiday Rentals
Just when many Australians are considering getting away for a mid-winter break, the ATO is reminding taxpayers that it is paying close attention to rental properties located in popular holiday destinations around Australia. The ATO recently issued a statement saying that last year it identified a large number of mistakes with deductions for rental properties, […]
Positive or Negative: Which investment strategy is right for you?
When can a negative be beneficial? When it makes you money of course. When considering any good investment, be it property, shares or cash, the main aim is to generate a return in the form of income (sometimes called yield), a capital gain or a combination of the two. Some investment properties may have a […]
Q: Who is Assessable on Interest Income?
A: THOSE WHO “BENEFIT” It is a fairly well-established and welcome act for an aunt or uncle or of course a parent to start a savings account for a new addition to the family. It is not so common however, to factor in the taxation obligations that may arise from this generosity. A young child […]
The Transitional CGT Relief Measure and Your SMSF
Transitional capital gains tax (CGT) relief is temporary relief available to all complying superannuation funds, not just SMSFs, for certain CGT assets that would otherwise give rise to a taxable capital gain through the necessary efforts to comply with the new transfer balance cap and new conditions to be applied to transition to retirement income […]
What is a Tax Loss and How Can it be Turned to Good Use?
You generally make a tax loss when the total deductions that can be claimed for a financial year exceed the total of assessable and net exempt income for the year. If you operate a business that makes a loss you can generally carry forward that loss and claim a deduction for it in a future […]
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 […]