Did you know you can reduce your income tax by making a large personal tax-deductible contribution from your take-home pay to your super? This strategy may be particularly useful if you will be earning more income this financial year or if you have sold an asset this year and made a large capital gain. What...

Most businesses are familiar with how GST works. But here’s a few reminders to make sure you’re being compliant and maximising your GST claims. GST is paid at each step in the supply chain and business charge GST in the price of goods, services or anything else they supply. If an entity is registered for...

The ATO continues to see instances in which closely held groups seek to inappropriately divert profits to a related SMSF to access concessional tax rates. Taxpayer Alert TA 2023/2 outlines the ATO’s concerns with arrangements that it has recently identified in which the profits of a property development enterprise are diverted to a related SMSF through the...

SCENARIO: I run a small business that requires me to travel quite a lot, particularly to country areas where I will often stay overnight. To save on accommodation costs, I have purchased a caravan. I have a business logo on the side of the caravan that is on display when I attend town shows and...

The capital gains tax (CGT) discount can reduce by 50% a capital gain that you make when you dispose of (sell) a CGT asset that you have owned for 12 months or more. However, the discount is only available to: individuals (but not foreign or temporary residents) complying superannuation funds (33% discount applies, not 50%)...

There is no specific provision in the income tax legislation that allows a deduction for self-education expenses. Rather the expenditure falls for consideration under the general deductibility provision of Tax Act. In broad terms this allows for, but also limits, deductible expenses to those incurred in the course of earning assessable income. This requires a...

Personal Property Securities Register Are you aware of the personal property securities register? What is it? The personal property securities register (more commonly known as the PPSR) is an official government register. It’s effectively a public noticeboard of *security interests in **personal property that is managed by the Registrar of Personal Property Securities. *security interests...

Tax Time: Unexpected first-time debts For the first time, many Australians are finding themselves in a position where they are being told they owe the ATO money after completing their tax return this year. A significant number of taxpayers in this position are those that are still paying off their HECS/HELP debts – many of...

Gifting to employees Some employers, especially at Christmas time or for birthdays, give small gifts to their employees or the employee’s associates  (i.e. spouses). These gifts typically take the form of bottles of wine, movie tickets, gift vouchers etc. The tax treatment of these gifts from an employer standpoint, depends upon a range of factors...

The recent ATO crackdown on trusts will no doubt have some business owners (and even some advisors) asking themselves the question: Is this structure for business purposes still worth it? To recap, trust distributions have been under the ATO microscope in recent years. The latest ATO crackdown was in February 2022 when it updated its...