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Single Touch Payroll Update Employers with 19 or fewer employees are required to start reporting through Single Touch Payroll (‘STP’) from 1 July 2019. The ATO will be working with employers to support them as they transition to STP, including allowing small employers to start reporting any time from 1 July to 30 September (and...

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End of the financial year is an important time for small businesses, completing bookkeeping, tax returns and planning for the new financial year. Putting the hard work in each financial year can help you get your business organised and work smarter in the year ahead. Also consider planning for the end of year as well....

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2019/20 Budget Update The Government handed down the 2019/20 Federal Budget on Tuesday 2 April 2019. Some of the important proposals include: Increasing and expanding access to the instant asset write-off from 7:30 pm (AEDT) on 2 April 2019 (i.e., ‘Budget night’) until 30 June 2020, as follows: – Increasing the instant asset write-off threshold...

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Continued focus on the cash economy ATO Assistant Commissioner Peter Holt has announced that, in the 2019/20 financial year, the ATO will be visiting a further 10,000 small businesses across the country, including up to 500 small businesses in Tasmania. He further said that businesses that advertise as ‘cash only’ and businesses that are operating...

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Changes to the small business instant asset write-off On 29 January 2019, the Prime Minister announced that legislation will be introduced to: extend the small business instant asset write-off by 12 months to 30 June 2020; and increase the write-off threshold from less than $20,000 to less than $25,000 (effective immediately). The current threshold of...

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Understanding STP obligations Single Touch Payroll (‘STP’) is a Government initiative aimed at cutting red tape for employers and improving visibility of compliance with business obligations such as: salary and wages and similar payments; Pay As You Go (‘PAYG’) withholding; and certain superannuation related information; by requiring ‘real time’ reporting of payroll information directly to...

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Division 293 assessments The ATO has been issuing ‘Additional tax on concessional contributions (Division 293) assessments’ with respect to liabilities relating to the 2018 income year. Division 293 imposes an additional 15% tax on certain concessional (i.e., taxable) superannuation contributions. It applies to individuals with income and concessional superannuation contributions exceeding the relevant annual threshold....

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Fast-tracking tax cuts for small and medium businesses The Government has fast-tracked the already legislated tax cuts to small and medium businesses by bringing them forward five years. Companies with an aggregated turnover of less than $50 million will have a tax rate of 25% in the 2022 income year (instead of the 2027 income...

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Increased scrutiny of home office expense claims Last year, 6.7 million taxpayers claimed a record $7.9 billion in deductions for ‘other work-related expenses’, which includes home office expenses. Reportedly, due to a high number of mistakes, errors and questionable claims for home office expenses, the ATO has recently advised that it will be increasing attention,...

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SG Amnesty still pending The proposed superannuation guarantee (‘SG’) amnesty is a one-off, 12-month opportunity to self-correct past non-compliance (i.e., from 24 May 2018 to 23 May 2019). It will apply to previously undeclared SG shortfalls for any period from 1 July 1992 up to 31 March 2018. The ‘carrot’ currently on the table is...

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