If you rent out part or all of your home, the rent money you receive is generally regarded as assessable income. This means: you must declare your rental income in your income tax return, and you can claim deductions for the associated expenses you may not be entitled to the full main residence exemption from...

It’s not quite Christmas time yet, but most businesses will be in the process of thinking ahead to the yuletide festivities, if not already into well-advanced planning. One of the perennial questions is if and how fringe benefits tax applies to these activities. There is no separate fringe benefits tax (FBT) category for Christmas parties...

The question of how much a person needs to have saved before confidently launching into their retirement years very much requires an individual answer. The more the better may seem to be an obvious response, but then again each one of us lucky enough to reach the brink of those golden years will feel a...

As the FBT year runs from 1 April to 31 March, the months of October to December marks the “third quarter” of the FBT year, and so here is an overview of the FBT elements that can attract the ATO’s attention. This can be a timely period for a compliance check-up, so that employers who...

It is not uncommon for professional people who provide services to set up a separate entity to run their business, be it a trust, partnership or incorporated company. The allure of course is the lower tax rate that these can secure, rather than at the top marginal tax rate that an individual would generally wear....

Say for example that we have already lodged your 2017-18 tax return and forwarded your notice of assessment to you saying that everything is as discussed, but you then realise that something has been left out of your return, or you accidentally included an extra deduction or doubled one up. There’s no need to panic...

There have been cases where people believe the idle talk about being able to coerce a better tax outcome by applying for a private ruling from the ATO, but there are some sober facts that you may need to keep in mind if you have thought of it yourself. Of course it is certainly the...

Not so many years ago, the concept of raising funds via crowdfunding would more likely be seen as a way to fund community-based, local-issue or “help-your-neighbour” initiatives. But increasingly these days crowdfunding is viewed as a viable source of seed capital, and is no longer regarded as the shy little sister of venture capitalism. Some...

The government has already announced, as part of the 2018-19 federal budget in May, that it will decrease the scope of allowable deductions for expenses stemming from holding vacant land that is intended to be used for residential or commercial purposes. The measure will apply from 1 July 2019. (See page 42 of the federal...

The general case regarding GST credits is that business owners can claim input tax credits relating to eligible business expenses when you lodge your business activity statement (BAS), which may be monthly or quarterly. However it is not unusual for business owners to occasionally make purchases that contain a private use component. Where expenses are...