In an interview with Acuity, Australian Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan FCA spells out his new agenda for 2018, where he sets small business and big spenders in his sights. In Brief ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan gives Acuity the first detailed explanation of his 2018 tax “hit list”. The hit list focuses on small businesses and […]
Whether you use a tax agent or choose to lodge your tax return yourself, avoiding these common mistakes will save you time and money. The Australian Taxation Office has published the following list. Keeping the right records You must have evidence of your income and expenses so you can claim everything you are entitled to. […]
In one of the most dramatic changes to property depreciation legislation in more than 15 years, Parliament has passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Housing Tax Integrity) Bill 2017 as at Wednesday 15th November 2017, with the Bill now legislation. The new legislation means owners of second-hand residential properties (where contracts exchanged after 7:30pm on the […]
Consultation paper: combating phoenix activities The Federal Government has released a consultation paper on company and tax law reforms to combat phoenix activities. Phoenixing occurs when individuals or entities strip assets from an indebted company and transfer them to another company to avoid paying the first company’s liabilities. The following proposals are under consideration: The […]
Consultation paper: combating phoenix activities The Federal Government has released a consultation paper proposing company and tax law reforms to combat phoenix activities. Phoenix activities involve stripping assets from a company that’s in debt and transferring them to another company to avoid paying the first company’s liabilities – that is, the new company “rises from […]
Compensation for ATO systems outages After the ATO’s unplanned system outages, it provided lodgment deferrals, and remitted interest and penalties where the outages affected practitioners and their clients’ lodgments. But what about compensation? The ATO has advised that it assesses claims for compensation in two ways: compensation for legal liability (eg negligence)– claims that are […]
Compensation for ATO systems outages After the ATO’s unplanned systems outages, it provided lodgment deferrals, and remitted interest and penalties where the outages affected practitioners and their clients’ lodgments. The ATO has also advised that it assesses claims for compensation in two ways: compensation for legal liability (eg negligence); and compensation under the Compensation for […]
Planning for the post-Christmas slump If you have failed to properly prepare for the post-Christmas slowdown many businesses experience, you may be in for a shock when you return from your well-deserved break. Post-Christmas is a dangerous time for small businesses, especially business to business (B2B) operators. As business starts to slow down for the […]
The federal government has introduced a bill clarifying the tax rate for passive investment companies, after a period of consultation with the industry revealed a series of flaws with its initial approach. The passage of Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan Base Rate Entities) Bill 2017 will mean a company will not qualify for the […]
Treasury has released exposure draft legislation that will generally exclude passive investment companies from accessing the lower corporate tax rate from the 2016/17 income year. Currently, the corporate tax rate for qualifying small corporate tax entities has been reduced to 27.5% for small business entities with a turnover threshold of $10m in the 2016/17 income year. From the 2017/18 income year, access to this rate will be […]