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Hiring Employees and What You Need to Know
You may have tax and superannuation obligations if you employ or contract workers into your business, either full-time or part-time. This includes your family members and you if you are a director. Your obligations may include: Pay as you go (PAYG) withholding Superannuation guarantee Fringe benefits tax (FBT) You have responsibilities from the day your […]
GST – Goods and Services Tax
GST (Goods and services tax ) is a broad-based tax of 10% on most goods, services and other items sold or consumed in Australia. How does the GST work Generally, businesses and other organizations registered for the Goods and Services Tax will: include GST in the price they charge for their goods and services claim credits […]
Zone Tax Offset – exclude ‘fly-in-fly-out’
In the 2015–16 Federal Budget, the government announced that it will exclude ‘fly-in-fly-out’ and ‘drive-in-drive-out’ (FIFO) workers from the Zone Tax Offset where their normal residence is not within a ‘zone’. Currently, to be eligible for the Zone Tax Offset, a taxpayer must reside or work in a specified remote area for more than 183 […]
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 […]
Record Keeping
The Australian tax system relies on taxpayers self-assessing. This means that you are responsible for your own record keeping and working out how much you can declare and claim as a deduction on your tax return. You also need to be able to show how you arrived at these figures, in some cases you may […]
Employee Share Scheme Changes
Changes to the tax treatment of employee share schemes (ESS) took effect on 1 July 2015. These apply to Employee Share Scheme interests (shares, stapled securities and rights to acquire them) issued on or after that date. There are changes to some existing rules as well as new concessions for employees of start-up companies. The […]
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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 […]
