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Superannuation Guarantee Rate Increase Update
| | | Recently, arguments both for and against increasing the rate of compulsory superannuation guarantee (‘SG’) have continued to be tossed around! The SG is the compulsory amount of superannuation an employer must pay into an eligible employee’s chosen super fund. The rate of SG has been frozen at 9.5% of an employee’s […]
Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty Ends 7 September 2020
| | | Speaking of the superannuation guarantee, time is rapidly running out for employers to apply for the SG amnesty and catch up on past unpaid super without incurring a penalty. The ATO encourages employers to apply for the amnesty and make payments as early as they can. Importantly, eligible amnesty amounts paid […]
Extension of the JobKeeper Payment
| | | Sadly, many Australian businesses are a long way from trending back to ‘normal’ as we approach 27 September 2020, the original date that JobKeeper was set to end. Thankfully the government has announced an extension of the JobKeeper Payment, with additional turnover qualifications. The JobKeeper Payment, which was originally due to […]
80 Cents Per Hour ‘Shortcut’ Method For Home Expenses Has Been Extended
| | | Back in April 2020 the ATO announced that a ‘shortcut’ method was to be made available to use from 1 March 2020 until 30 June 2020 for individuals claiming home office expenses due to COVID-19. The ATO has recently announced an extension of this shortcut method to also include 1 July […]
COVID-19 and Division 7A Relief
| | | The ATO has announced some limited relief for private companies that have loans to their shareholders or related parties that are governed by what are referred to as “complying loan agreements”. A complying loan agreement is entered into to avoid triggering an assessable deemed dividend that could potentially be equal to […]
Regulations Confirm No SG Obligation On Jobkeeper Payments Where Work Is Not Performed
| | | The federal government has registered the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Amendment (Jobkeeper) Payment Regulations 2020. These regulations ensure that amounts of salary or wages that do not relate to the performance of work and are only paid to an employee to satisfy the wage condition for getting the JobKeeper payment are prescribed […]
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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 […]
