Latest News
Hybrid vehicles and FBT changes
Employers that provide plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (‘PHEVs’) to employees (or associates) for personal use should remember the following. Home-charging expenses — new shortcut method The ATO has updated its guidelines to include a new method to make it easier to calculate PHEV electricity costs when a vehicle is charged at an employee’s home. To […]
When a hobby becomes a business
Taxpayers may not think they are running a business from their hobby or ‘side hustle’ activities. However, if they start to earn money from doing these activities regularly, they may be carrying on a business without realising it. Generally, carrying on a business involves ongoing and repeated activities with the intention of making a profit. […]
Know when a new logbook is required
Editor: Keeping a car logbook may be required to accurately calculate the business-use percentage of vehicle expenses (e.g., fuel, registration, insurance and depreciation) for tax deductions. Taxpayers can keep the same logbook for their car for five years, but there are circumstances where they may need a new one during that period. Relying on 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 […]
Simplified Home Office Expense Deduction Claims Due to COVID-19
| | | Given that many Australians continue to work from home due to COVID-19, the ATO has updated its Practical Compliance Guideline which allows taxpayers working from home to claim a rate of 80 cents per hour, by keeping a record of the number of hours they have worked from home, rather than […]
Deferrals of Interest Due to COVID-19
| | | Many lenders have recently allowed borrowers with investment property loans to defer repayments for a period of time. While repayments are being deferred, interest (and fees) will usually be added to the loan balance (i.e., the deferred interest will be ‘capitalised’). However, it is important to recognise in such situations that, […]
Employees on JobKeeper can Satisfy the ‘Work Test’
| | | The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (‘APRA’) has confirmed that, where an employer is receiving the JobKeeper wage subsidy for an individual, superannuation funds should consider the individual to be ‘gainfully employed’ for the purpose of the ‘work test’, even if that individual has been fully stood down and is not actually […]
COVID-19 and Loss Utilisation
| | | The ATO understands the way some businesses operate has been impacted as a result of COVID-19. Some of these impacts may have resulted in changes that affect whether they are able to utilise their carried-forward losses in the current or a future income year. For companies to utilise their carried-forward losses […]
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 […]