A novated lease is a popular way for employers to reward and incentivise their staff. Through a salary sacrifice arrangement that includes a novated lease, employees are provided with a vehicle and can also reduce their personal tax liability. However, employees should understand how fringe benefits tax (FBT) might apply to their arrangement and what...

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is committed to educating taxpayers on how to protect themselves against tax scams and identity theft. It says that up to the end of last financial year, $2.7 million was handed over to fraudsters, with about 2,500 individuals providing some sort of personal information to scammers, including tax file numbers....

Below is a list of tips from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) that should help rental property owners avoid what it has found are the 10 most common tax errors made by rental property investors. The ATO says that avoiding these tax mistakes will save many taxpayers both time and money. 1. Claiming the right...

As a tax concept, “entertainment” can be relevant not only to fringe benefits tax (FBT), but also to income tax and even goods and services tax (GST). For a business, whether a business expense is “entertainment” will generally also determine whether the cost is deductible. If the expenditure can be shown to be directly connected...

A profit that arises from the carrying out of a profit-making undertaking or plan (that is, one with a profit-making intention) will be assessable as statutory income where the proceeds of the profit-making undertaking or plan are not otherwise assessable as ordinary income. Any capital profit on the disposal of assets acquired before 20 September...

Have you ever gone to pay for your coffee or lunch and saw the tip jar at the local café counter, and wondered how (or if) the business and/or its staff accounts for tax on that money? Depending on a number of factors, this can add up to quite a sum over a year, assuming...

Business owners of private companies often borrow money from their own companies for all sorts of reasons. However there is an area of the tax law that seeks to sanction against situations in which private companies dole out money to those within a business, in a form other than salary or dividends, that needs to...

Travel allowances are paid to employees where in some cases the period away from home is less than 21 days, and in others, more than 21 days. Typically employees are: paid standard travel allowance for accommodation and food working at the one location visiting home on weekends staying in accommodation provided by the supplier (which...

Under Australia’s taxation regime, resident taxpayers are subject to income tax on both income derived in Australia and on foreign sourced income. As a general rule, where foreign income is derived by an Australian resident, the gross amount (including any foreign tax paid on the income) must be included as assessable income. A foreign income...

Christmas will be here before we know it, with smarter business owners already planning their end-of-year festivities. Celebrating the season can be team-building or just a bit of fun, but the well-prepared business owner will also know that a little tax planning can help make sure there’s no unforeseen tax problems. The three benefits typically...