Latest News
PAYGW reminders for activity statement lodgments
The ATO will be sending certain employers a reminder to lodge their activity statements. The reminder will include the amounts the ATO has on record for them, such as: PAYG withheld amounts reported through Single Touch Payroll; and any other pre-filled amounts, including GST instalments and PAYG instalments (instalment amount option). The ATO’s reminders are […]
ATO AFCX data-matching program
The ATO will acquire relevant account and transaction data (data-matching) from the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (‘AFCX’) for the 2025 to 2027 income years, including the following: Client identification details (names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, identity verification document details, IP addresses, etc); and Bank account transaction details (bank account details, transaction date and […]
Small Business Superannuation Clearing House is closing
The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (‘SBSCH’) will close on 1 July 2026. Editor: The SBSCH is a free online service provided by the Australian Government through the ATO. The SBSCH can be used by employers to pay superannuation for all their employees through a single payment. The SBSCH will then distribute the money to […]
Getting the main residence exemption right
The ATO has the following tips for taxpayers in relation to the CGT main residence exemption. They should consider if they have bought or disposed of property in the past income year. If they have sold property, were they using it solely as their primary place of residence, earning income from it (rental or business), […]
Bill to reduce student debt now law
Legislation has recently been enacted which delivers on the 2025/26 Federal Budget announcement to reduce student debts. Pursuant to this legislation: there is a one-off 20% reduction to Higher Education Loan Program debts and other student loans that were incurred on or before 1 June 2025; the minimum repayment threshold is increased from $54,435 in […]
ATO to include tax ‘debts on hold’ in taxpayer account balances
From August 2025, the ATO is progressively including ‘debts on hold’ in relevant taxpayer ATO account balances. Editor: A ‘debt on hold’ is an outstanding tax debt where the ATO has previously paused debt collection actions. Tax debts will generally be placed on hold where the ATO decides it is not cost effective to collect […]
Passenger Movement Data-Matching Program
| | | The ATO will access data from the Department of Home Affairs on passenger movements during the 2016/17 to 2022/23 financial years, and match it with certain sections of ATO data holdings to identify taxpayers that can be provided with tailored information to help them meet their tax and superannuation obligations, or […]
Super Contribution Caps Will Increase From 1 July 2021
| | | The ATO has confirmed that, from 1 July 2021, the superannuation concessional and non-concessional contribution caps will be indexed. The new caps for the 2021/22 year will be: Concessional Cap: $27,500 Non-Concessional cap: $110,000 (or $330,000 over 3 years) The total superannuation balance limit that determines if an individual has […]
ATO Loses Case on Jobkeeper And Backdated ABNs
| | | On 24 March 2021, the Full Federal Court handed down its decision in a case concerned with the requirement that an entity claiming JobKeeper must have had an ABN on 12 March 2020, or a later time allowed by the ATO. The Registrar of the Australian Business Register had reactivated the […]
First Criminal Conviction for Jobkeeper Fraud
| | | A person claiming to be a sole trader was convicted of three counts of making a false and misleading statement to the Commissioner of Taxation, in order to receive $6,000 in JobKeeper payments to which he was not entitled, as he was not operating a genuine business and he had already […]
ATO’s Taxable Payments Reporting System Update
| | | The ATO has confirmed that more than 60,000 businesses have not yet complied with lodgement requirements under the taxable payments reporting system (‘TPRS’) for 2019/20. The TPRS is a black economy measure designed to assist the ATO to identify contractors who don’t report or under-report their income. The ATO estimates that […]
Jobkeeper Comes to an End
| | | The ATO has advised that the final JobKeeper payment will be processed in April 2021. Enrolled businesses do not have to do anything when the program closes, although they will need to complete their final March monthly business declaration by 14 April 2021. Also, once a business is no longer claiming […]