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 […]
Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty Ends 7 September 2020
| | | Speaking of the superannuation guarantee, time is rapidly running out for employers to apply for the SG amnesty and catch up on past unpaid super without incurring a penalty. The ATO encourages employers to apply for the amnesty and make payments as early as they can. Importantly, eligible amnesty amounts paid […]
Superannuation Guarantee Rate Increase Update
| | | Recently, arguments both for and against increasing the rate of compulsory superannuation guarantee (‘SG’) have continued to be tossed around! The SG is the compulsory amount of superannuation an employer must pay into an eligible employee’s chosen super fund. The rate of SG has been frozen at 9.5% of an employee’s […]
Jobkeeper 2.0 – Tweaks To The ‘Decline In Turnover’ Tests
| | | On 21 July 2020, the Government announced that the JobKeeper Payment (‘JKP’) would be extended until 28 March 2021 (i.e., for a further six months beyond its original end date of 27 September 2020). As a result, JKPs will now be made over two separate extension periods, being: Extension period 1 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Treasury Laws Amendment – Testamentary Trust Distribution To Minors
| | | Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No 3) Bill 2019 has passed both Houses of Parliament and is now law. Testamentary Trusts and Minors This legislation contains amendments to ensure the tax concessions available to minors in relation to income from a testamentary trust only apply in respect of income generated from […]