In the ATO’s sights this Tax Time
The ATO has announced its three key focus areas for this Tax Time Make sure you are up to date as necessary The areas of focus are: rental property deductions; work-related expenses; and capital gains tax. ATO Assistant Commissioner Tim Loh said the ATO is continuing to prioritise areas where they often see mistakes being […]
Taxpayers not carrying on an agistment business
AAT finds taxpayers not carrying on a business of providing services to their company Taxpayers not entitled to various deductions for agistment and animal husbandry services provided to their own company, AAT rules The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (‘AAT’) has held that two taxpayers were not carrying on a business of providing services to a company […]
Electric vehicle home charging rates: cents per km
Draft Guidelines on Calculating Electric Vehicle Charging Costs Released by ATO Recordkeeping Requirements and Application of the EV Home Charging Rate for FBT and Income Tax Purposes The ATO recently released draft guidelines setting out a methodology for calculating the cost of electricity when an electric vehicle (‘EV’) is charged at an employee’s or individual’s […]
Last chance to claim deductions under temporary full expensing
Temporary Full Expensing: A Time-Limited Deduction for Businesses Eligibility Criteria, Opt-Out Provisions, and Impending Deadline for the Tax Benefit Deductions under ‘temporary full expensing’ are only available in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 income years, and are expected to come to an end on 30 June 2023. Under temporary full expensing, businesses with an aggregated […]
Builder unable to obtain refund of incorrectly charged GST
Ruling by Administrative Appeals Tribunal impacts GST refund guidelines The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has held that a builder was unable to receive a refund of GST incorrectly charged on the sale of a residential premises that had been rented for just over five years since construction was complete. The taxpayer claimed the GST charged on […]
Why tax credits and refunds are being offset
Is your refund or credit less than expected? The ATO has reached out to small businesses who may have recently received a letter advising that they have a debt on hold and any credits or refunds would be offset against this debt. As a result, such a small business may find that their refund or […]
Rental properties and second-hand depreciating assets
Be aware of the tax rules surrounding ‘second-hand depreciating assets’ The ATO is reminding taxpayers that have a residential rental property, to take care when making claims for second-hand depreciating assets used in their properties. In most cases, these are items that existed in the taxpayer’s property when they purchased it, or were in their […]
ATO to target ‘wash sales’ this Tax Time
Wash sales are a form of tax avoidance that the ATO is focused on this tax time The ATO is warning taxpayers to not engage in ‘asset wash sales’ to artificially increase their losses to reduce gains (or expected gains). Definition Wash sales typically involve the disposal of assets (e.g. cryptocurrency and shares) just before […]
Individual car expenses
ATO updates ‘cents per kilometre’ rate for individuals The ATO has updated the cents per kilometre rate relating to individual car expenses for the 2023 income year to 78 cents per business kilometre. The cents per kilometre method: uses a set rate for each kilometre travelled for business; allows taxpayers to claim a maximum of […]
ATO small business focus
ATO’s small business focus for 2022 income year The ATO announced that it will be focussing on the following matters for small business tax returns for the 2021/22 year: Deductions that are private in nature and not related to business income, as well as overclaiming of business expenses (especially for taxpayers running a home-based business). […]
