The Tax Office’s business performance benchmarks provide a snapshot of an average business by providing a measure of costs and income (expressed as a range) that the Tax Office would normally expect a business to report when operating in a particular industry. So far, benchmarks have been developed for small businesses in more than 100...

Start up businesses need to make one important decision from the outset – what type of business set-up will suit you best? You’ve got a choice of four basic business structures – sole trader, partnership, company or trust. Of course, there are also more sophisticated structures out there, but most possible structures are essentially hybrids...

The government’s broad reform of the taxation of trust income has been delayed yet again, from July 1, 2013, with a likely commencement date of July 1, 2014, which would coincide with the intended commencement date for a new tax system for managed investment trusts. A landmark High Court case highlighted the legality or otherwise...

Will new loss carry-back scheme rules mean less can claim? Proposed rules contained in a recently released discussion paper about the new loss carry-back scheme could potentially restrict more businesses from using the benefit. The discussion paper outlines plans to prevent “loss trafficking”, which would stop directors from buying companies that already have losses in...

Because of the way that tax is applied to superannuation, savvy employees can actually turn what would have been a tax liability into extra super by making use of a salary sacrifice arrangement. By way of example, let’s consider the case of Bill, who earns an annual salary of $65,400 (including the 9% super guarantee)....

The Tax Office is aware that when the systems businesses use for capturing and recording goods and services tax (GST) information fail, often these businesses will end up reporting incorrect amounts of GST, and make what can be potentially costly errors. Over many taxation cycles, the Tax Office says it has come to realise that...

There are a few key things you can do to lower your business systems risk profile and ensure your systems are best placed to support your business and report correctly.   Do you have written procedures in place? Written, documented procedures are important for: identifying the correct GST treatment of each supply and acquisition preparing...

Although the shoebox has (hopefully) been relegated to the pages of quaint tax history, the principle of taxpayers needing to keep adequate records and receipts lives on. But the better organised and ordered tax recordkeeping is, the better a tax agent or accountant will be able to do what they do best — to make...

The Tax Office views “residency” in an entirely different way to other Australian governmental agencies that deal with things like immigration, visas and citizenship. An individual will be an Australian resident for tax purposes if they “reside” in Australia, adopting the ordinary meaning of the term, or satisfy at least one of the three statutory...

Any mention of the word “audit” is likely to elicit a frustrated groan or a fearful shake of the head from many of us, but what self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) trustees need to realise is an audit can be a good thing. As tedious as it may sound, an audit is useful in providing an...