Additions to our Focus Team
We are very pleased to announce that two of our team members, Chloe Nicholson and Renee Veldstra, are both expecting their first child. Chloe is due in September 2019 and Renee in November 2019. Both girls will be back in early 2020 after maternity leave. Our other...
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Interest Rates Reductions
Have your loan rates been reduced? With the recent Reserve Bank interest rate reduction, we note that some lenders have passed on this interest rate reduction and some have not.We note that one very experienced finance broker we deal with, Ian Baker (Network HQ), has...
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Low and Middle Income Tax Offset
There has been a lot of talk and confusion in the media over the past weeks about the Governments additional tax refund for all taxpayers for the year ended 30 June 2019. Is it a refund? Is it an offset? Is it a bonus?The final legislation has now passed through...
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Proposed key tax policies coming up to the 2019 Federal Election
With an election just around the corner, political debate has turned to what tax policies the elected party will look to reform. References:Shadow and Assistant Shadow Treasurer’s joint media release, 13 May 2018A Fair go for AustraliaLeader of Opposition’s media...
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GST Withholding on Property – New Rules from 1 July 2018
New legislation has been implemented to combat “phoenix developers” who construct new houses, claim GST credits on development costs, sell the new houses, and disappear before paying the GST on sale to the ATO. The GST Withholding measures require the purchaser to...
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Cash and hidden economy
A recent interview with Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan revealed the ATO will be targeting businesses that deal in cash. As a part of its cash and hidden economy operation, the ATO has compiled “data-maps” of cash-only businesses and those that do not frequently or...
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ATO scrutinising car claims this tax time
Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson said over 3.75 million people made a work-related car expense claim in 2016/17, totalling around $8.8 billion. “We are particularly concerned about taxpayers claiming for things they are not entitled to, like private trips, trips...
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How the ATO uses data matching
The ATO receives data from a range of sources, including banks, financial institutions and other government agencies. They validate this data and match it against their own information to identify where people and businesses may not be reporting all their income. When...
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Superannuation guarantee amnesty introduced
The Government has introduced a one‑off, twelve month amnesty for historical underpayment of Superannuation Guarantee (SG) which commenced 24 May 2018. The Bill incentivises employers to come forward and "do the right thing by their employees" by paying any unpaid...
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Are you ready for GST on low value goods?
If you’re running a foreign business that supplies low-value goods to Australia, you may be caught in the GST net from 1 July 2018. The previous $1,000 low-value threshold will no longer apply and those businesses that meet the $75,000 registration threshold will need...
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