Victoria seems to have been the fastest acting state, also one that sends regular and meaningful updates. Their $1.7 billion measures include the following: Payroll Tax Refund Businesses with annual taxable wages up to $3 million will have their payroll tax for the 2019-20 financial year waived. This will support 24,000 businesses and up to 400,000 workers. The State Revenue Office will directly contact eligible businesses to reimburse them for…  Read more

For small and medium businesses and large businesses specifically impacted by COVID-19, QLD Government will refund two months’ worth of payroll tax. Additionally, they’re giving small and medium businesses a three-month payroll tax holiday, and a further six-month payroll tax deferral for any of these Queensland businesses. (Could it get more complicated than this??) “Combined with the payroll tax deferrals we’ve already announced, it means no Queensland business impacted by…  Read more

  On the 13th March 2020, Practice Ignition named Petra King one of the Top 50 Women in Accounting.   This global award recognizes women who are leading the charge when it comes to advocacy, change and community within the Accounting and Bookkeeping industry. “We received such a large and diverse range of entries from women in, and around the accounting industry, it was amazing to see.” says Guy Pearson,…  Read more

In an indication of the far-reaching changes that Single Touch Payroll (‘STP’) will be bringing, Treasury has recently finished consulting on draft legislation that expands the data that may be collected through STP by the ATO (as announced in the 2019/20 Budget). The legislation, if enacted, will broaden the amounts that employers can voluntarily report under the STP rules, to include employer withholding of child support deductions from salary or…  Read more

The Government has announced its economic response to the Coronavirus in the form of a $17.6 billion economic stimulus package. The package has been marketed as a measure to protect the economy by maintaining confidence, supporting investment and keeping people in their jobs. Whether it will be enough, only time will tell. We have already seen the impact the panic has had on the businesses, especially in travel and hospitality…  Read more

The ATO is warning the community about a new SMS scam which promises an 8% bonus on 2020 tax returns to victims of recent natural disasters. The scam text message says: “Due to natural disasters, Australians are entitled to an 8% bonus on their tax return. Please begin the process by filling out the form below. Link: https://my.gov.verification-digital.com.” ATO Assistant Commissioner Karen Foat said this is a classic case of…  Read more

Are you looking after your employees and provide them with a car parking benefits? Don’t get caught out by the fringe benefits rules. Where businesses provide car parking fringe benefits to their employees, the taxable value of these benefits must be calculated correctly to ensure they are meeting their fringe benefits tax (‘FBT’) obligations, regardless of the method used. The ATO has advised they may directly contact businesses who have…  Read more

Are you a general medical or allied health practice? If so, you are probably worried about the recent developments in payroll tax cases. What was the case that started it all? In Victorian case The Optical Superstore Pty Ltd & Ors v Commissioner of State [2018] VCAT 169, the Applicant (Optical Superstore) was the owner and operator of an optical clinic. The Victorian State Revenue Office raised amended assessments for…  Read more

The ATO has welcomed the decision of the High Court to basically uphold the decision of the Full Federal Court in a case which the ATO won, in relation to foreign income tax offsets (‘FITO’). An Australian tax resident had sold some US investments and paid US tax on the gains. The taxpayer was then basically taxed on half of those gains in his assessable Australian income (i.e., the gains…  Read more

If you have been looking after your own BAS lodgments, and use ATO Business portal logging in with AUSKey, you will need to make some changes. AUSKey is being replaced by MyGovID at the end of March 2020. How exactly is MyGovID replacing AUSkey?   MyGovID and Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM), provide a quick, easy and secure way for you to prove who you are when you access selected government…  Read more

The ATO has revealed it will request a further five years’ worth of policy information from over 30 insurance companies about taxpayers who own marine vessels, thoroughbred horses, fine art, high-value motor vehicles and aircraft. The ATO expects to receive information about assets owned by around 350,000 taxpayers from 2016 to 2020 as part of its data-matching program. This information (provided by insurers) is intended to be used by the…  Read more

Following the enactment of legislation in late 2019, the ATO can disclose certain business tax debt (ATO debt) information to external credit reporting bureaus. This information will primarily be used when issuing external creditworthiness reports in relation to relevant businesses, effectively treating tax debts in a similar manner to other business debts. The purpose of allowing the ATO to report ATO debt is to: encourage businesses to engage with the…  Read more

 Treasury has released its Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (‘MYEFO’) for 2019/20 forecasting a surplus of approximately $5 billion.   Proposed new record-keeping course One new tax-related measure of note in the MYEFO was the announcement the ATO would be provided with a new discretion to direct taxpayers (found to be lacking in their substantiation efforts under audit) to undertake an approved record-keeping course, instead of applying financial penalties. This…  Read more

Victorian government has announced tax relief for people and local businesses that have been affected by the recent bushfires. The tax relief measures include the following:   Land tax relief on properties that have been affected by bushfires or are used to provide free accommodation for people displaced by bushfires. Land transfer duty (stamp duty) relief for people who need to replace homes destroyed by bushfires. Reduced land transfer duty (stamp duty) on purchases of…  Read more

After spending 7 years working in Michelin star restaurants in France, Dan Arnold has returned to his home, Brisbane, to open his first restaurant – Restaurant Dan Arnold. Let’s just say that he returned with so much experience and his food speaks for itself. Dan arrived in France in 2010, worked at 3 Michelin star restaurant l’Espérance, and after was sous-chef of Serge Vieira, Bocuse d’Or 2005 and Two Michelin…  Read more

Did you come back to work and realised you have issues with Xero payroll? Well, there’s nothing wrong with the actual Xero payroll, but the ATO rules around salary sacrifice and superannuation have changed from 1 January 2020. Legislation changes from 1 January 2020 and how will Xero payroll cope From 1 January 2020, salary sacrificed super contributions can’t be used to reduce your super guarantee obligations, regardless of the amount…  Read more

Whilst generally SMSF cannot acquire assets from related parties, there are some exceptions. SMSF can buy property from yourself, but strict rules apply: It must be a business real (commercial) property. The property must be used wholly and exclusively in one or more businesses (not necessarily in your business). Being zone for business use is not enough. The property must be transferred at market value. If your SMSF pays less…  Read more

Can your SMSF borrow? The technical answer is no, however, since 2007 they are allowed to enter into limited recourse borrowing arrangements. If done right, and if you considered your investment strategy, the risks that come with borrowing, the sole purpose of your fund, then they can really help you get ahead. You should always start with reading your deed and considering what you are trying to achieve. Just because…  Read more

We are so proud of these guys and so happy to have seen them at their Xerocon stand! This is what they have been up to – https://workguru.io/. WorkGuru are a project, asset, and inventory management tool, designed as a lightweight ERP for the Xero ecosystem. WHY ARE THEY DIFFERENT WorkGuru was built by the founders of The Rype Group, who have been Cloud Integrators with Xero, since before the…  Read more

That’s right! Another tax year is upon us! While we may lodge your return and you may get a nice refund early on, keep in mind that your superfund does not send data to the ATO until later. That means, that if your income is over $250,000 and your employer contributed to your super, your assessment will be amended to include Division 293 and you may be asked to return…  Read more

GST withholding… The ATO has noticed some common errors made in activity statements since the introduction of “GST at settlement” on 1 July 2018.  These new laws require purchasers to withhold GST on settlement (and pay it to the ATO directly) generally when buying ‘new residential premises’ from developers. In particular, the new “GST at settlement” law does not affect a supplier’s obligation to lodge their activity statement and report…  Read more