The Tax Office is aware that when the systems businesses use for capturing and recording goods and services tax (GST) information fail, often these businesses will end up reporting incorrect amounts of GST, and make what can be potentially costly errors. Over many taxation cycles, the Tax Office says it has come to realise that...

There are a few key things you can do to lower your business systems risk profile and ensure your systems are best placed to support your business and report correctly.   Do you have written procedures in place? Written, documented procedures are important for: identifying the correct GST treatment of each supply and acquisition preparing...

Although the shoebox has (hopefully) been relegated to the pages of quaint tax history, the principle of taxpayers needing to keep adequate records and receipts lives on. But the better organised and ordered tax recordkeeping is, the better a tax agent or accountant will be able to do what they do best — to make...

The Tax Office views “residency” in an entirely different way to other Australian governmental agencies that deal with things like immigration, visas and citizenship. An individual will be an Australian resident for tax purposes if they “reside” in Australia, adopting the ordinary meaning of the term, or satisfy at least one of the three statutory...

Any mention of the word “audit” is likely to elicit a frustrated groan or a fearful shake of the head from many of us, but what self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) trustees need to realise is an audit can be a good thing. As tedious as it may sound, an audit is useful in providing an...

Compassionate reasons can serve as grounds for withdrawing pre-retirement or preserved super to cover medical and related emergencies – but strict rules apply. Overseen by the Department of Human Services, the compassionate grounds benefit allows super to be withdrawn in one or more of five specific circumstances, after taking into account a member’s financial capacity....

Off-market transfers of certain assets, such as shares, between related parties and self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) will cease to be allowed under proposed changes to the law. However the start date of the ban has been moved from July 1, 2012 to one year later. Frequently referred to as in-specie contributions, the government’s move to...

The Finanacial Year Ahead………

Changes announced in the latest Federal Budget mean that from July 1, 2012, the Net Medical Expenses Tax Offset will have two income-based thresholds, both indexed annually. A lower threshold ($2,060 for 2011-12) applies to individuals with an annual taxable income of less than $84,000 and less than $168,000 for couples and families, and a...

Every so often, a person’s career will take them places — but not necessarily in an ‘upwardly mobile’ way. If earning a living means an employee needs to be away from their usual place of residence for an extended period, the government has made available tax concessions generally known as the Living Away From Home...