Latest News
Jobmaker Year 2: Adjusting Baseline Headcount
If you have been claiming the JobMaker Hiring Credit, please be aware that the ATO will now calculate an adjusted baseline headcount for the claim. The ATO will amend the prefill in the claim form based on information provided in earlier claims. The ATO does this each period by calculating the greatest headcount increase that […]
Cents Per Kilometre Deduction For Car Expenses – 2023 Income Year
The ATO has proposed for individual taxpayers that use the cents per kilometre method when calculating tax deductions for their work-related car expenses, that the rate per kilometre for the income year starting 1 July 2022 (the 2023 income year) will be 75 cents per kilometre. This is an increase from the 72 cents rate […]
2022-2023 Budget Measures That Are Now Law
Low and Middle Income Tax Offset A measure that will no doubt be beneficial for individual taxpayers is the increase in the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset (‘LMITO’) for the 2022 income year by $420. The LMITO is a tax offset which reduces an individual taxpayer’s tax liability. This means that the maximum amount […]
Small Employers And STP – The ATO Gets Serious
The ATO has advised it is in the process of shifting from its previous engagement and communication focus on Single Touch Payroll (‘STP’). In particular, it will begin a ‘failure to lodge penalty’ process for small business employers (i.e., those with 19 or fewer employers) who have yet to commence STP reporting. STP reporting has […]
New Shield Against Debt Recovery Proposed For Small Business
Small businesses are to be afforded the ability to apply to the Small Business Taxation Division of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (‘the Tribunal’) for orders to stay (i.e., temporarily suspend) specific ATO debt recovery actions. Broadly, amending legislation will allow the Tribunal to make such an order only if the proceeding is brought under the […]
ATO SMSF Statistics 2020 Overview Of Lodgments Published
As of 30 June 2021, SMSFs have been reported as making up 25% of all super assets (i.e., $822 billion as of 30 June 2021). At the same time, there were approximately 598,000 SMSFs with almost 1.115 million individual members. Furthermore, as of 30 June 2020, on average, each SMSF has assets of just over […]
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 […]