Latest News
Documenting Gifts Or Loans From Related Overseas Entities
The ATO is currently reviewing certain arrangements where Australian taxpayers seek to disguise undeclared foreign income as a gift or loan. Genuine gifts or loans received from related overseas entities (including family members and friends) are sometimes used to fund businesses or to acquire income producing assets. In this context, a genuine gift or loan […]
Additional ATO Support During COVID-19
| | | The ATO is providing additional support to taxpayers having difficulty meeting their tax and superannuation guarantee charge obligations for employees because of COVID-19. Available support includes the following: Lodgment or payment support options – for example, payment plans or remitting interest and penalties. Varying PAYG instalments – The ATO will not apply […]
ATO Support For Employers With Expansion Of STP
| | | As part of the expansion of Single Touch Payroll (known as STP Phase 2), from 1 January 2022, employers will need to report additional payroll information in their STP reports including: disaggregation of gross amounts (including separate reporting of paid leave, allowances, overtime, directors’ fees and salary sacrifice amounts); employment and taxation […]
Reminder For First-Time Share Investors To Declare Income
With the growth of micro-investment platforms helping new investors enter the market, the ATO has issued a reminder for first-time share and Exchange Traded Funds (‘ETF’) investors. The ATO is concerned that first-time investors often do not understand their tax obligations in relation to reporting capital gains from the sale of shares and income in […]
Extra Super Step When Hiring New Employees
Employers may soon need to do something extra when a new employee starts to work for them. Currently, if a new employee does not choose their own fund, their employer can pay contributions for them to a default fund. From 1 November 2021, if a new employee does not choose a specific fund, their employer […]
Paid Parental Leave Changes Support Parents In Lockdown
| | | The Paid Parental Leave (‘PPL’) scheme has been amended to enable expectant parents whose work has been affected by COVID-19 lockdowns to access Parental Leave Pay or Dad and Partner Pay under the scheme. Many people who would otherwise have qualified for PPL, may no longer meet the ‘work test’ condition to […]
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What’s New For Taxpayers
Before you complete your tax return for 2015, there are some changes you should be aware of in case they affect you. Mature age worker tax offset You can no longer claim the Mature age worker tax offset (MAWTO) in your tax return. Previously, to be eligible for the offset you needed to be an […]
Travel between home and work and between workplaces
While trips between home and work are generally considered private travel, you can claim deductions in some circumstances, as well as for some travel between two workplaces. If your travel was partly private and partly for work, you can only claim for the part related to your work. What you can claim You can […]
Investment Property – Claiming Repairs and Maintenance Expenses
Can you claim the cost of repairs you make before you rent out the property? You cannot claim the cost of repairing defects, damage or deterioration that existed when you obtained the property, even if you carried out these repairs to make the property suitable for renting. This is because these expenses relate to the […]
Gifts and donations
You can only claim a tax deduction for gifts or donations to organisations that have the status of deductible gift recipients (DGRs). Deductions for gifts are claimed by the person that makes the gift (the donor). For you to claim a tax deduction for a gift, it must meet four conditions: The gift […]
Capital gains tax checklist
The following questions will help you to identify possible capital gains tax (CGT) obligations. If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, CGT may apply. Some questions are intended to highlight the possibility of a capital gain or loss arising in the current year, others to alert you to the possibility of a […]
Tax on Super Contributions
The tax you pay on your super contributions generally depends on whether the contributions were made before or after you paid income tax, you exceed the super contributions cap or you are a very high-income earner. Before-tax super contributions The super contributions you make before tax (concessional) are taxed at 15%. Types of before-tax contributions […]