What is a family trust?
Is a family trust a good solution for you? Family trusts can help you protect your assets, manage your family’s tax more efficiently and enable you to provide an income stream to a vulnerable family member. To decide whether a family trust could be good for your family it’s important to understand how they work and […]
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 […]
Electronic sales suppression tools
Ban on electronic sales suppression tools From 4 October 2018, the Government has banned activities involving electronic sales suppression tools (ESST) that relate to people or businesses that have Australian tax obligations. The production, supply, possession or use of an ESST (or knowingly assisting others to do so) may attract criminal and administrative penalties. ESSTs […]
Beware of fake tax debt scam
Scammers impersonating tax agents The ATO has received increasing reports of a new take on the ‘fake tax debt’ scam, whereby scammers are now impersonating registered tax agents to lend legitimacy to their phone call. The fraudsters do this by coercing the victim into revealing their agent’s name and then initiating a three-way phone conversation […]
Business tax cuts
Fast-tracking tax cuts for small and medium businesses The Government has fast-tracked the already legislated tax cuts to small and medium businesses by bringing them forward five years. Companies with an aggregated turnover of less than $50 million will have a tax rate of 25% in the 2022 income year (instead of the 2027 income […]
Mythbusting super
5 super myths explained Although most of us have money in super, there are still some myths and misconceptions surrounding it. Myth 1: Super is a form of tax It’s understandable that some people think super is a form of tax. After all, you’re likely to see super payments on your payslip near the amount […]
Cryptocurrency
Transacting with cryptocurrency With interest in cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin) increasing, the ATO has issued guidance regarding various tax consequences of transactions involving cryptocurrencies. Any capital gains made on the disposal of a cryptocurrency (including using the cryptocurrency or converting it to Australian dollars) may be taxed, although certain capital gains or losses from disposing […]
Company tax cuts
Further company tax cuts deferred (for now…) The Government has decided not to put the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan No. 2) Bill 2017 to a vote in the Senate… for the present point in time (it had already passed the House of Representatives without amendment). The Bill aims to progressively extend the lower […]
Tax Time mistakes
ATO guide to the 5 most common Tax Time mistakes As Tax Time 2018 has ‘kicked off’, the ATO has profiled the five most common mistakes they see, including taxpayers who are: Leaving out some of their income (e.g. forgetting a temp or cash job, capital gains on cryptocurrency, or money earned from the sharing […]
Key points from Budget 2018
How will the Budget affect you? This year’s Federal Budget is an ‘election budget’ with tax cuts for all Australians that will be funded by the Government’s higher than expected revenue. All-in-all, changes to super were fairly limited in the Budget, with the Government focused on preventing the erosion of super funds with small balances. […]
