The legislation Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2018 has just recently passed both houses in Canberra, which among other measures also makes changes to the long-established small business CGT concessions. The legislation’s explanatory memorandum (scroll down to page 13 of this PDF of the EM) spells out the incumbent basic conditions...

With the ongoing financial services Royal Commission, and likely future cases brought before various courts for compensation — or indeed the present building of class action lawsuits on the back of various revelations to come out of the Royal Commission — the ATO has felt the need to run over the rules (as they stand)...

Investors must consider a range of tax laws dealing with income, assets and deductions. Even that term ”income”, the meaning of which most of us would assume, can take on nuanced shades of meaning when considered in regard to investment. For example, investment income earnings such as dividends and interest are typically considered ordinary income....

Every now and then you might read or hear about a “taxpayer alert” being issued by the ATO. Taxpayer alerts are the ATO’s “early warning” signals to the public about a certain area of concern – it could be about fraudulent schemes, or dodgy investments, or perhaps about a tax minimisation tactic that the ATO...

As many taxpayers will know, the maximum franking credit that can be allocated to a frankable distribution paid by a corporate tax entity is based on its applicable corporate tax rate for imputation purposes. This can differ from a corporate tax rate, which is the rate of tax payable on a company’s taxable income (which...

If you rent out part or all of your home, the rent money you receive is generally regarded as assessable income. This means: you must declare your rental income in your income tax return, and you can claim deductions for the associated expenses you may not be entitled to the full main residence exemption from...

It’s not quite Christmas time yet, but most businesses will be in the process of thinking ahead to the yuletide festivities, if not already into well-advanced planning. One of the perennial questions is if and how fringe benefits tax applies to these activities. There is no separate fringe benefits tax (FBT) category for Christmas parties...

The question of how much a person needs to have saved before confidently launching into their retirement years very much requires an individual answer. The more the better may seem to be an obvious response, but then again each one of us lucky enough to reach the brink of those golden years will feel a...

As the FBT year runs from 1 April to 31 March, the months of October to December marks the “third quarter” of the FBT year, and so here is an overview of the FBT elements that can attract the ATO’s attention. This can be a timely period for a compliance check-up, so that employers who...

It is not uncommon for professional people who provide services to set up a separate entity to run their business, be it a trust, partnership or incorporated company. The allure of course is the lower tax rate that these can secure, rather than at the top marginal tax rate that an individual would generally wear....