Electronic data-matching
Electronic data-matching is a key tool used by the ATO to check compliance. Most people are willing to meet their tax and superannuation responsibilities. However, there are a small minority of taxpayers who don’t fully meet their responsibilities. The ATO says it uses a range of measures to identify those taxpayers, including the use of […]
Small businesses not seeking accountants’ advice
Source: http://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/professional-development/9168-sme-missing-out-by-not-seeking-accountants-advice The Voice of Australian Business survey, undertaken by Bentleys, shows SMEs are missing out by not taking advantage of this expert advice. The survey revealed a number of alarming statistics such as less than half of all surveyed businesses used an accountant or financial adviser to review their banking relationship in the last year. […]
Trust Tax Tips 2016
Here are some useful tax tips and reminders concerning trusts: Beneficiaries Trustees should check their trust deed and make sure that they only make distributions to eligible beneficiaries. Only an eligible beneficiary can be presently entitled to income of a trust estate. If distributions are not made to eligible beneficiaries then the net (taxable) income […]
Phone & Internet Claims – Tax Deduction 2016
The ATO has released information on claiming deductions for mobile, home phone and internet expenses for work purposes. The following are some key points made by the ATO. Substantiating claims Taxpayers need to keep records for a four-week representative period in each income year to claim deductions of more than $50. These records may include diary entries, […]
ATO Tax Audits
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 […]