The ATO has compiled, from many years’ worth of annual return data supplied by self managed superannuation funds, what it says are the top five errors committed by SMSF trustees when lodging their annual tax return. Knowing where other SMSF trustees have tripped up in the past can go a long way to make sure...

The pandemic period under which we labour continues to have outcomes that may at first have not been obvious, but as time and lodgement considerations come to pass, more taxation consequences edge their way out of the woodwork. One such outcome is where employees have been garaging work cars at their homes due to COVID-19,...

The Federal Government announced a six-month moratorium on evictions of commercial and residential tenants during the COVID-19 health pandemic. This moratorium (and its accompanying code of conduct leasing principles) will inevitably affect SMSFs, which are reasonably heavily invested in real property, according to statistics. LEASING PRINCIPLESA moratorium on evictions means that SMSF landlords face the...

The ATO has highlighted the fact that due to COVID-19, a trustee may experience liquidity issues that may affect a trust’s ability to satisfy a beneficiary’s entitlement. This may happen where financial institutions impose restrictions that affect the way a trustee can deal with its assets. The ATO states that where a present entitlement arose...

The extension of the instant asset write-off from $30,000 to $150,000 until 31 December 2020, as part of the Federal Government’s COVID-19 stimulus measures, provides an opportunity to look at its application to motor vehicles. Note that in addition to the higher write off amount, the business turnover threshold test for eligibility was increased to...

If your business has made tax losses in years to the current one, but you haven’t yet offset all those losses, you can still carry these forward and claim a deduction for them in a later year — as long as you meet all the requirements of the tax law. Your business structure will affect...

There have been some changes made to JobKeeper since our last newsletter. Businesses will need to meet one of the decline in turnover tests for the September 2020 quarter alone (rather than for both the June and September quarters as announced in July) to be eligible for JobKeeper for the period 28 September 2020 to...

With many having received cash flow boost and JobKeeper payments, there can arise some unique issues where these amounts are received within a trust or company. The cash flow boost and JobKeeper payment have been flowing to eligible businesses for some time now. These stimulus payments have differing tax treatments, which are: the cash flow...

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had foreshadowed that it will make changes to its regulatory work and priorities to allow it to focus on the impact of COVID-19, stating that part of this effort will see it defer some activities and redeploy staff to address the issues of immediate concern, but at the...

Notice was posted recently in the Commonwealth Gazette (C2020G00570) of a data matching program that is to be launched between the ATO and Services Australia — the government body that became the executive agency in February this year in the Social Services portfolio (responsible for health, social and welfare payments and services). The notice of...