Once we have lodged your latest activity statement, you may realise that something has been left out or you have neglected to include a particular item. The Australian tax system is based on “self assessment”, which means the ATO generally takes your word, under our guidance, and bases its assessment on the information it has...

Providing fringe benefits goes hand-in-hand with the task of retaining good and loyal employees as well as attracting new talent for your business. However the types of benefits provided can sometimes relieve the compliance headache. Now that we have entered into the new fringe benefits tax year (which began on April 1), business owners are...

The budget has a few sweeteners, but not so much that will turn anyone hyperactive. The welcome news is that the turnover threshold for classifying a “small business entity” will increase from $2 million to $10 million. This will allow a further 90,000 to 100,000 businesses to access a range of small business tax concessions,...

Buying insurance within an SMSF can give access to deductible expenses that would otherwise not be available, as some insurance premiums, such as for life insurance (which typically cannot be claimed as deductions by individuals for income tax purposes) may be available as tax deductions for the SMSF. The same concession applies for any super...

From about five years ago, the baby boomer generation started to turn 65. A surge in Australian business owners retiring began, and continues, but the topic of succession planning, although given some emphasis by this demographic wave, remains a perennially under-addressed issue. Often a recurring subject of the ATO’s “Building Confidence” compliance website, effective succession...

An area where we see individuals getting it wrong as employees is in relation to claiming work-related travel expenses. The absence of hard and fast rules can makes claiming travel expenses difficult as often the deductibility of such costs can be dependent on the nature of employment, the amount of time spent away from home...

In the old days, tax officials could be seen driving around the ‘burbs looking for signs of opulence that didn’t match your income. Now, with everything that needs to be known available digitally, data matching can uncover income that doesn’t seem to match lifestyle in a fast and effective manner. The ATO it is now...

The final tranche of 2015 small business budget announcements have made it into law, now expanding the tax relief available for small businesses to change the legal structure of their business. This new arrangement is designed to provide greater flexibility for small businesses to change legal structures without incurring an immediate CGT liability, and allowing...

A death benefit nomination is a written direction to SMSF trustees which instructs the trustee to pay a member’s entitlements to certain dependants and/or legal personal representatives (their estate) in the proportions the member wishes in the event of their death. With so much money tied up in superannuation, and more and more of Australia’s...

Is there a problem with using your company’s assets for yourself? Assets that belong to your business but that are being used for your own benefit or enjoyment can potentially trigger a tax issue known as “Division 7A”. You have set up running your business in a company to get all the “asset protection” advantages...