ATO loses case on JobKeeper and backdated ABNs
JobKeeper claims and backdated ABNs On 24 March 2021, the Full Federal Court handed down its decision in a decisive case. It concerned the requirement that an entity claiming JobKeeper must have had an ABN on 12 March 2020, or a later time allowed by the ATO. The Registrar of the Australian Business Register had […]
ATO’s taxable payments reporting system update
Taxable payments annual report (‘TPAR’) for the 2020 financial year The ATO has confirmed that more than 60,000 businesses have not yet complied with lodgement requirements under the taxable payments reporting system (‘TPRS’) for 2019/20. The TPRS is a black economy measure designed to assist the ATO to identify contractors who don’t report or under-report […]
Property inspections – are physical inspections necessary?
COVID-19 and tax depreciation reports Where a physical inspection of premises is not performed, this increases the risk of deductions being missed or errors being made. Property investors and businesses will often engage a specialist quantity surveyor to prepare a tax report on capital works and depreciation deductions available to them under the tax law […]
Single Touch Payroll developments
Further STP developments 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 […]
Car parking fringe benefits
Valuing car parking fringe benefits 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 engaged an arm’s […]
New ‘gig’ economy reporting
Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook The MYEFO announced the Government’s intention to implement a new third party reporting regime for the sharing economy. Treasury released its Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (‘MYEFO’) for 2019/20 forecasting a surplus of approximately $5 billion. The new reporting regime will apply to businesses who operate via online platforms within […]
Disclosure of business tax debts
Taxation Administration (Tax Debt Information Disclosure) Declaration 2019 Following the enactment of legislation in late 2019, the ATO can disclose certain business tax 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 […]
The ATO hits the road
Could you be a black economy target? The ATO plans to visit almost 10,000 businesses this financial year in all States and Territories, across a variety of industries, as part of their strategy to deal with the black economy (they visited nearly 9,000 businesses in the 2018/19 financial year). According to Assistant Commissioner Peter Holt, […]
Payroll update
Single Touch Payroll Update Employers with 19 or fewer employees are required to start reporting through Single Touch Payroll (‘STP’) from 1 July 2019. The ATO will be working with employers to support them as they transition to STP, including allowing small employers to start reporting any time from 1 July to 30 September (and […]
New GST withholding rules
Common errors with new GST withholding rules 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 […]
