Finding and consolidating super
Finding super sparks $860 million of joy New data released by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) shows that Australians were busy finding and consolidating our superannuation accounts at the end of 2018. More than 66,000 people found and consolidated over 105,000 accounts worth more than $860 million from October to December 2018 using ATO online accessed via myGov. Assistant Commissioner Graham […]
Transition to Single Touch Payroll for small employers
Statement from Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan about transition to Single Touch Payroll for small employers Parliament has now passed legislation to extend Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting to include all small employers (those with fewer than 20 employees) from 1 July 2019. STP is pay day reporting by employers to the ATO as it happens, this reporting […]
Single Touch Payroll for all employers
From 29 Jan the ATO will write to small employers with <19 employees that already use payroll software. You will be told about Single Touch Payroll (STP), and reminded that you don’t need to wait for legislation to pass to start reporting through STP. If your payroll software offers STP you can update your software […]
ATO data matching of share transactions
Share transactions – 20 Sep 1985 to 30 Jun 2018 data matching program protocol (amended) At a glance Program objectives The purpose of the ATO’s data matching program is to ensure that taxpayers are correctly meeting their taxation obligations in relation to share transactions. These obligations include registration, lodgment, reporting and payment responsibilities. As taxpayers can hold shares for […]
ATO lodgment obligations
External collection agencies to enforce ATO lodgment obligations The ATO has finalised a trial relating to sending overdue taxpayer lodgment obligations to external collection agencies. As a result, it may now refer taxpayers to an external collection agency to secure tax return lodgment. The ATO has stated that it will only refer a taxpayer to […]
Data matching and share transactions
ATO data matching and share transactions The ATO has extended its data matching program, this time focusing on share data. The ATO will continue to receive share data from ASIC, including details of the price, quantity and time of individual trades dating back to 2014, with more than 500 million records obtained. The ATO will […]
Summary of single touch payroll
What is single touch payroll and how will it affect your business? Single touch payroll is a new regulation that changes when and how small businesses report payroll activity to the Australian Tax Office (ATO). Businesses used to report this information to the ATO once a year. Now, they need to send a report after […]
ATO SMS text messages
ATO to send text messages if bank account details incorrect The ATO has advised that it will send SMS text messages directly to taxpayers where incorrect bank account details were included in their tax returns and they were entitled to a refund. The SMS will advise impacted taxpayers that: their refund cannot be processed due […]
Christmas Parties & Gifts 2018
Year-end (and other) staff parties With the well earned December/January holiday season on the way, many employers will be planning to reward staff with a celebratory party or event. However, there are important issues to consider, including the possible FBT and income tax implications of providing ‘entertainment’ (including Christmas parties) to staff and clients. FBT […]
Single Touch Payroll
Proposed expansion of STP to smaller employers Single Touch Payroll (‘STP’) commenced on 1 July 2018 for approximately 73,000 employers who have 20 or more employees. There is currently legislation before Parliament to expand STP to all employers from 1 July 2019 and it is estimated that there will be more than 700,000 employers who […]
