On 20 February 2023, Treasury released a consultation paper on legislating the purpose of superannuation. This is an idea that has been around since 2016 when the former Coalition government contemplated doing the same thing. The government says that legislating an objective of superannuation will provide stability and confidence to policy makers, regulators, industry, and...

With the end of the FBT year approaching, are your car logbooks in order? The operating cost method is used by many employers to calculate their car FBT liability. This method is particularly effective where the business use of the vehicle is high. Keeping a logbook is essential to use the operating cost method. Employees...

Are you one of the five million Australians who claim work from home deductions? If so, stricter record-keeping rules may now apply. For this financial year and moving forward, there are now only two methods to calculate your work from home claim: Revised fixed rate method (with new rules applying) Actual costs method (unchanged). The...

What is a recontribution strategy? The objective of the recontribution strategy is to reduce the taxable component of an individual’s superannuation account and to increase the tax-free component, which may lead to better estate planning outcomes. To achieve this, the recontribution strategy allows individuals who have met a full condition of release (such as the retirement or reaching age...

The ATO has reminded taxpayers around their sharing economy tax obligations when providing accommodation. The sharing economy provides a great opportunity for individuals with spare rooms or spare entire properties to rent out space and earn rental income using facilitators such as Airbnb. Indeed, approximately 2.1 million individuals reported rental income of $42 billion in the...

Do you operate your business via a family trust? The ATO released its final guidance material on the application of section 100A on 8 December 2022 – TR 2022/4 and PCG 2022/2. In doing so, it has clarified a number of issues which is welcome. To recap, the ATO in February 2022 updated its guidance...

The eligibility age for downsizer contributions reduced from 60 to 55 years from 1 January 2023. This means if you are age 55 or older, you could invest the proceeds of the sale of your family home to your superannuation outside of your standard contribution caps. Downsizer contributions From 1 January 2023, if you’re aged...

The ATO has released its new year resolutions…and there is not a gym in sight! According to the ATO the five new year’s resolutions to keep if you want to stay on top of your tax and super in 2023 are: Know if you’re in business or not Are you earning an increasing income from a...

Electric vehicles are set to become more affordable for both households and businesses after the government sealed a deal with crossbench Senators on legislation to exempt low and zero emission cars from fringe benefits tax (FBT). The new law introduces an electric car discount in the form of an FBT exemption. This allows for car...

The ATO has issued new draft guidelines around a new method (the revised fixed rate method) of calculating work-from-home running expenses from 1 July 2022 (as an alternative to calculating the actual work-related portion of all running expenses). The new revised fixed rate method will replace both: the 52 cents fixed-rate method set out in...