This tax time, the ATO, as usual, has nominated some tax claim hot spots that it will be paying attention to — and which you should approach with caution when claiming these deductions. For example, the ATO has already flagged that it will be checking returns for taxpayers who take advantage of the exemption from...

In the first quarter of this calendar year, legislation was passed that will supplement the ATO’s current “same business test” for losses with a more flexible “similar business test”. The new test will expand access to past year losses when companies enter into new transactions or business activities. The similar business test allows a company...

In the year since event-based reporting (EBR) started for SMSFs (from 1 July 2018) the ATO says an unprecedented number of transfer balance cap reports have required re-reporting. The transfer balance account report (TBAR) is used to report certain events and is separate from the SMSF annual return. The TBAR enables the ATO to record...

When you have plans for starting a new business, one of the central decisions is which business trading structure will work best for your venture. The general problem however can be that there are both pros and cons with the main options available, so considerations need to be given with regard to the overall situation...

The income year of 2019-20 has just ticked over, which is also the first year in which an individual is able to make additional catch-up contributions to super through the application of unused concessional (before tax) contributions. These are “unused” if the fund member made less than the legislated cap on such contributions, which was...

A new ruling has been released by the ATO on the deductibility or otherwise of “penalty interest”. The term penalty interest refers to an amount payable by a borrower under a loan agreement when the lender agrees to an early repayment of a loan. The amount payable is commonly calculated by reference to the number...

Access our Wallace Partners Client Information Newsletter July 2019 below; Wallace Partners CIN July 2019

EOFY last-minute tax planning tactics for individuals This financial year is almost over, but there are still tactics you may be able to employ to make sure you pay the right amount of tax for the 2018-19 year. While the best strategies are adopted in July (that is, as early as possible in a financial...

An employee declaration is written advice given to an employer by their employee containing information relating to the fringe benefits staff have received. A business needs to keep employee declarations to apply certain fringe benefit tax (FBT) concessions. They are not to be sent to the ATO, but retained as part of business records. The...

Car parking fees incurred in the course of producing assessable income are generally deductible, but special rules apply if the car is used by an employee to commute between home and work or the car is provided to the employee by the employer. Non-employees Self-employed persons, partnerships or trusts are entitled to claim deductions for...