PAYG instalments is a system that helps you manage your expected tax liability on income from your business or investments for the current income year by making smaller regular payments. To assist taxpayers experiencing financial difficulty as a result of COVID-19, the ATO is providing added flexibility to manage your instalments to suit your circumstances....

The ATO has announced an important tax residency concession for foreign incorporated companies during the COVID-19 crisis. BackgroundOn 24 March 2020, the government announced a ban on Australians travelling overseas, using powers given to it under the Biosecurity Act 2015. The ban is aimed at preventing travellers returning to Australia with COVID-19. There are limited...

The government has temporarily changed bankruptcy law to help protect people who are facing unmanageable debt as a result of the economic impacts of COVID-19. If you are in financial difficulty, application can be made for temporary debt protection, which prevents recovery action by unsecured creditors, for six months. The threshold of debt that can...

When assessing eligibility for JobKeeper assistance, the first question that must be answered is whether the entity was carrying on a business as at 1 March 2020. This question is of particular relevance to entities that have solely or predominantly rental income (other than input taxed supplies). Whereas one Administrative Appeals Tribunal case noted that “the...

So what happens from a tax point of view when a person leaves Australia part-way through the income year? How is the income they derived before that time taxed? And how is any income they derived after that time taxed (whether from Australian or foreign sources)? Well, the answer will primarily depend on whether the...

Many residential rental property owners have had their rental income affected by COVID-19. As a result of this income year not being business as usual, the ATO has provided answers to some typical scenarios that may crop up in this area for tax time. Q: If tenants are not paying their full rent of have...

This financial year is almost over, but there are still effective strategies you may be able to employ to make sure you pay the right amount of tax for the 2019-20 year and maximise any refund entitlement. This is still, if not more so, the case in the current COVID-19 environment. While the best strategies...

The ATO has announced that it has identified some common errors regarding luxury car tax (LCT) claims, but also says there are issues it has identified with LCT that are more associated with actively trying to pay less tax than required. Common errorsSome common errors the ATO has identified when taxpayers report or claim LCT...

While many of the COVID-19 stimulus changes such as the JobKeeper payment  are grabbing headlines, it is easy to overlook the significance of the $150,000 instant asset write off provisions. The key changes for the instant asset write off include the following. Certain business entities can access an immediate deduction for the full cost of...

An alternative decline in turnover test for the JobKeeper payment scheme has now been registered by the ATO. The ATO says the alternative tests will only kick in if an entity cannot satisfy the basic decline in turnover test. The instrument applies to provide alternative bases for a class of entities (more below) to satisfy...