Voluntary compliance of taxpayers is the ATO’s main goal. However, the ATO also undertakes a range of compliance activities to detect, deter and address non-compliance. If the ATO considers that a taxpayer may not be meeting certain tax obligations, or if it does not believe that a review can be sufficient, it may conduct an […]
The Treasurer has handed down his first Budget, an “election Budget”. Labor has made it clear that it will reject some of the key revenue measures announced in the Budget. A number of Bills containing important tax changes have been enacted and some other Bills have lapsed. With less than two months for an election […]
In this Special Issue we summarise the key announcements of the 2016 Federal Budget. Personal taxation Personal tax rates: small tax cut from 1 July 2016 From 1 July 2016, the 32.5% personal income tax threshold will increase from $80,000 to $87,000 in an attempt to address tax bracket creep. The Government expects this will stop around […]
Australians with a Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) debt and/or a Trade Support Loans (TSL) debt who are moving overseas for longer than six months will need to provide the ATO with their overseas contact details within seven days of leaving the country. The requirement follows recent legislative changes. ATO Assistant Commissioner Graham Whyte has […]
Let’s say you have been living in your only home for many years but now you want to move to a smaller place. You have built up quite a bit of equity so you are likely to receive a large profit when you sell. Will you have to pay capital gains tax on the money? Generally speaking, […]
Answer: The costs of establishing a superannuation fund would typically be classified as non-deductible capital expenditure. Clearly the SMSF trust – or any interest in the trust – does not qualify as a “depreciating asset” for the purposes of Division 40 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997). A “blackhole” deduction under section […]
Eligibility for the private health insurance (PHI) rebate is income tested against the PHI income thresholds, which are usually adjusted annually.From 1 July 2015, the income thresholds used to calculate the PHI rebate and the Medicare levy surcharge will remain at the 2014–2015 levels for three years. That is, the income thresholds will remain at the […]
Some of the key advantages of having a corporate trustee include: Continuous succession – a company has an indefinite life span. A company makes succession to control more certain on death or incapacity. Administrative efficiency – on the admission or cessation of membership, that person becomes or ceases to be a director of the company. […]
The power of re-contributing Re-contribution strategies can reduce the tax liability of an SMSF and its beneficiaries as well as allow members to qualify for Centrelink benefits. Karen Dezdjek illustrates how. A re-contribution strategy for SMSFs is easy to implement. It has the potential to deliver significant tax savings to both the member and their […]
Seven steps to better forecasting Business leaders make judgement calls every day. Philip Tetlock says there are ways to improve the chances of getting them right. Below are the seven steps to better forecasting. Break seemingly intractable problems into tractable sub-problems.Superforecasters split problems into knowable and unknowable parts. They flush ignorance into the open. “Expose […]