Latest News
ATO’s tips for correctly claiming deductions for rental properties
Taxpayers who have work done on their rental property should consider the following factors in determining claims for expenses. Repairs and general maintenance are expenses for work done to remedy or prevent defects, damage or deterioration from using the property to earn income. These expenses can be claimed in the year the expense occurred. Initial […]
Taxpayers able to apply CGT small business concessions
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (‘AAT’) recently held that a trust was entitled to apply the CGT small business concessions and, therefore, it could reduce a capital gain it made down to nil. In March 2015, a family trust entered into an agreement for the sale of its shares in a company for $3,500,000. In June […]
New lodgment obligation for income tax exempt organisations
Non-charitable not-for-profits (‘NFPs’) with an active ABN, including community service organisations, need to lodge an annual NFP self-review return to notify their eligibility for income tax exemption. To be eligible to self-assess as income tax exempt, the organisation’s main purpose must be a community service purpose. Any other purpose must be incidental, ancillary or secondary. […]
ATO may cancel inactive ABNs
The ATO regularly reviews, and sometimes cancels, inactive Australian Business Numbers (‘ABNs’). The ATO may review a taxpayer’s ABN if the taxpayer has not reported business activity in their tax return, or there are no signs of business activity in other lodgments or third-party information. If the ATO thinks a taxpayer is no longer using […]
Family trust elections and interposed entity elections
Family trust distribution tax (‘FTDT’) is a special, 47%, tax sometimes payable by a trustee, director or partner. It applies when a trust has made a family trust election (‘FTE’), or an entity has made an interposed entity election (‘IEE’), and makes a distribution outside the ‘family group’ (as defined) of the specified individual in […]
Reminder of June 2024 Quarter Superannuation Guarantee (‘SG’)
Employers are reminded that employee superannuation contributions for the 1 April 2024 to 30 June 2024 quarter must be received by the relevant super funds by 28 July 2024 (which is a Sunday), in order to avoid being liable to pay the SG charge. Notice of Medicare levy exemption data-matching program The ATO will […]
Work-related expense claims rejected by Administrative Review Tribunal (‘ART’)
The Administrative Review Tribunal (‘ART’) recently disallowed a taxpayer’s claims for many different types of work-related expenses. The taxpayer was employed full-time as an engineer, working from home two days a week. For the 2023 income year, he claimed deductions totalling over $61,000, in relation to (among other things) car expenses, travel expenses, clothing expenses, […]
Check GST credit claims before lodging BASs
Taxpayers who are registered for GST can get GST credit claims (or ‘input tax credits’) for the GST included in the price of goods and services they buy for their business. However, if they buy something for both business and private use, they need to apportion their GST credit to only claim the business use. […]
Government payments programs
The ATO is reminding taxpayers that receive government payments for delivering services under a Commonwealth program, such as healthcare, disability support or child care, that they have an obligation to: keep accurate records; and report any such income they receive in their tax return. The ATO recently advised that it would be contacting taxpayers and […]
Contractors omitting income
Through data matching, the ATO is seeing some contractors incorrectly reporting or contractors omitting income. Contractors need to report all their income in their tax return, including payments made by businesses for their contracting work. Note that, as part of the taxable payments reporting system (‘TPRS’), certain businesses must lodge a ‘Taxable payments annual report’ […]
Businesses using cash to dodge obligations
The ATO is ‘cracking down’ on businesses that use cash to dodge obligations on their tax, employer and business. Businesses that do this may: – fail to report all sales transactions and fail to issue receipts; – avoid paying GST, income tax, PAYG withholding, super guarantee, insurance and work cover protection; – report their income […]
$20,000 instant asset write-off extended
Editor: The Government recently passed legislation to extend the $20,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses by 12 months to 30 June 2026. Taxpayers should note that if their business has an aggregated annual turnover of less than $10 million, they may be able touse the instant asset write-off (‘IAWO’) to immediately deduct the business […]