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The Superannuation Legislative Landscape
The Government’s Fair and Sustainable Superannuation Reforms have now been in place for over a year and the measures announced in this year's Federal Budget continue to make changes to the superannuation environment. It is with some challenge that we...
Tax Fundamentals: CGT Events
Pop quiz! … How many CGT events are there? Our Tax Fundamentals trainer, Lee-Ann Hayes asks this question often of her groups and enjoys the varying replies she gets back. She has heard everything from five to 200 CGT events. Occasionally, someone is...
The work-related expenses tax gap
On 12 July 2018, the ATO published the income tax gap for ‘individuals not in business’, comprising around 9.6 million individuals who are not in business and earn income from salary and wages and investments. The estimated net tax gap for these individuals...
Tax Fundamentals: What advice can I rely on?
In 2015, the Government released its tax White paper titled ‘Re:think Tax discussion paper’. As part of the discussion on complexity, the paper noted: In the 1950s Australia had a tax system made up of around 1,080 pages of tax law. … Now we have...
Residential Rental Properties: The New Depreciation Rules
On 1 July 2017, changes were made to the tax law in relation to the claiming of depreciation on certain assets used in residential rental properties. Since then, investors in residential rental properties have not been able to claim decline in value...
SG Amnesty: Q&A
Background On 24 May 2018, the Government announced a one-off, 12-month Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty (the Amnesty), and introduced legislation into Parliament, which allows non-complying employers to self-correct any unpaid superannuation guarantee (SG)...
ATO compliance and administrative approach to company tax rate changes
Background Since 2015, there have been many changes to the tax laws, both enacted and proposed, which set out the eligibility for the lower corporate tax rate. Since 2017, there have also been legislative changes, both enacted and proposed, to the rate at...
How to Prepare a 2018 Company Tax Return with Unenacted Measures
Our Banter blog on the changes to the Base rate entity rules in November 2017 detailed the measures contained in the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan Base Rate Entities) Bill 2017 (‘the Bill’) which propose to improve the current law by setting...
Multiple Employers, SG and the Concessional Contributions Cap
Schedule 2 to the Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Superannuation Measures No. 1) Bill 2018 proposes to amend the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (SGAA) to allow individuals to avoid unintentionally breaching their concessional contributions...
Unenacted Tax Measures at 30 June 2018: Bills Wrap Up
In wrapping up the Autumn session of Parliamentary sittings, the Senate adjourned at 8.17 pm on Thursday 28 June 2018 until Monday 13 August 2018. At the close of Parliament, surprisingly and disappointingly, the backlog of highly anticipated tax bills was...
The New Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty
On 24 May 2018, the Government announced a one-off, 12-month amnesty (the Amnesty), and introduced legislation into Parliament, which allows non-complying employers to self-correct any unpaid superannuation guarantee (SG) amounts dating back to 1992. This...
Post Budget Observations
The Treasurer, Scott Morrison, delivered his third Federal Budget on 8 May 2018. The detailed tax measures contained in the 2018–19 Federal Budget are set out in our comprehensive Budget Summary which is available here. The detail of each of the Budget...
Prepare now for Single Touch Payroll
On 1 July 2018 Single Touch Payroll (STP) will commence for 'substantial employers' which had at least 20 employees on 1 April 2018. This article contains some practical action points to take between now and 30 June 2018 so that your clients'...
Where will this year’s Federal Budget take us?
The 2018–19 Federal Budget (the Budget) will be released at 7.30pm (AEST) on Tuesday, 8 May 2018. In the final week before we make the annual e-pilgrimage to www.budget.gov.au to download the Budget papers and the Treasurer’s accompanying speech, we...
Draconian and retrospective CGT main residence exemption amendments hit Parliament
NOTE: In this article, all section references are to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. On 8 February 2018, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Reducing Pressure on Housing Affordability No. 2) Bill 2018 was introduced into Parliament. Schedule 1 to the Bill...
Tax law trailing behind Bitcoin
The recent news cycle has extensively followed the astronomical growth — and the odd sharp dip — in the value of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency phenomenon. With an unprecedented level of public interest in Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency, it...
Dormant companies and the new franking rules
There are significant changes to the rate at which a company franks its distributions from 1 July 2016 … do you know the rate at which a dormant company should be franking its distributions? A company may be dormant because it previously carried on a business and...
Single Touch Payroll [Infographic]
The Government has proposed to extend mandatory Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting to small employers (fewer than 20 employees) from 1 July 2019. In early 2017, the ATO conducted a pilot program, which tested how STP impacts small employers. This...
Are clients ready for Single Touch Payroll?
The ATO’s ‘Single Touch Payroll’ (STP) initiative will start on 1 July 2018 for many employers — but businesses and their advisers cannot be complacent until then. The next six months is a crucial time for ‘substantial employers’ (≥ 20 employees) to understand how STP...
Proposed changes to eligibility for company tax cut
The highly anticipated measures that will prevent passive investment companies from accessing the lower corporate tax rate from 2017–18 were introduced into Parliament on 18 October 2017. The Bill proposes to improve the current law by setting a...
ATO focus on work-related claims [Infographic]
An ATO crackdown on work-related expense claims has been a regular feature of Tax Time for the past few years. For 2017 tax returns, the ATO will be focusing on clothing-related expenses and car expenses. Our article, The ATO has an eye on every 2017...
ATO focus on work-related claims
The ATO has an eye on every 2017 work-related expense claim As soon as Tax Time 2017 began, the ATO activated its version of a warning system via the Australian media to caution individual taxpayers and their advisers against over-claiming...
Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding Rules
The ‘foreign resident’ capital gains withholding rules apply to Australian residents too The misnamed ‘foreign resident capital gains withholding’ (FRCGW) regime not only affects Australian residents but requires them to comply with legal obligations, and...
Australian House Prices [Infographic]
The misleadingly-named Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding rules now apply to transfers of Australian real property valued at $750,000 or more. This reduced threshold took effect on 1 July 2017 (previously it was $2 million). Who do these...
Company tax cuts: clarification made complex
UPDATE: On 18 October 2017, the Government tabled in Parliament draft legislation to introduce an 80 per cent passive income eligibility test for the lower corporate tax rate from 2017–18. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan Base Rate...
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