News

Not every individual situation fits neatly with the tax laws as they stand — sometimes a taxable item’s known value (and therefore the tax that applies to it) may need to be determined. Many tax laws require the taxpayer to determine the market value of something. Common instances include: for individuals – transfers of real…

Now that we are into bushfire season, and with flooding events having already occurred, it is perhaps timely to be reminded that as well as the more obvious immediate devastation inflicted on people’s property, destructive events such as fires or floods can also mean loss of income for the affected people. This can come about…

It has long been an accepted standard that the auditor of an SMSF needs to be independent of that fund, and be a third party entity to the SMSF. This requirement is written into the relevant legislation. There have of course been breaches of this requirement, and instances where auditors and/or fund trustees have suffered…

While the ATO has lately been focusing on the rollout of stimulus measures, it has also flagged that audit work is not off the table completely. In late July, when the ATO fronted a parliamentary Senate Select Committee on COVID-19, its representative said plans were to start tax audits sometime between September and October 2020.…

The ATO has devised special rounding conventions where an amount of GST includes a fraction of a cent. Although it labels these conventions “rules”, there is no obligation for parties on either side of a transaction to follow them, as the ATO states: “You and your customer do not need to use the same rounding…

To save you having to laboriously search for the right tax rate or relevant threshold, the essential information is right here in one place. This guide includes tax rates, including individual minor and non-resident rates, corporate rates, offset limits and benchmarks, rebate levels, allowances, and essential super as well as FBT rates and thresholds (including…

JobKeeper amendments There have been some changes made to JobKeeper since our last newsletter. Businesses will need to meet one of the decline in turnover tests for the September 2020 quarter alone (rather than for both the June and September quarters as announced in July) to be eligible for JobKeeper for the period 28 September…

The extension of the instant asset write-off from $30,000 to $150,000 until 31 December 2020, as part of the Federal Government’s COVID-19 stimulus measures, provides an opportunity to look at its application to motor vehicles. Note that in addition to the higher write off amount, the business turnover threshold test for eligibility was increased to…

As a general rule, expenses relating to travel between home and work (and vice versa) are non-deductible. A number of exceptions to this principle exist, including for situations that require bulky equipment be transported to and from work. In order for transport expenses to be deductible under this “bulky equipment” exception, it is usually necessary…

Despite the current COVID-19 world in which we live, the procedures for completing and lodging tax returns remains pretty much the same. Before we talk with you to go over your tax return, certain information will be needed. Of course these days pre-filling takes care of a lot of the “paperwork”, and if you wait…