By: Steve Burnham From 1 July 2018 the ATO says it will not apply penalties to tax returns and activity statements where your clients have made an inadvertent error by failing to take reasonable care or due to the fact that they have not taken a “reasonably arguable” position (more below). It says that if it […]
The ATO has recently published information on its use of “e-Audit” technology, which it has begun to use as part of its tax compliance push. An e-Audit is carried out via technology that tests files stored in a taxpayer’s electronic records, which can verify if the stored data is accurate and complete. If a […]
By John Shepherd John Shepherd, Assistant Commissioner, Australian Taxation Office delves into some of the finer detail ahead of the 1 July move to Single Touch Payroll (STP), a change to the way larger employers report tax and super to the ATO. The 1 July start for Single Touch Payroll (STP) is fast approaching, and […]
By Steve Burnham Now and then the ATO issues guidances on how its general anti-avoidance legislation can apply to professional firms that allocate profits to individual professional practitioners with proprietorship in the firm. Firms potentially affected include those providing services in the accounting, architectural, engineering, financial services, legal and medical professions and many more. Guidelines […]
By: Steve Burnhum The ATO says that it has “listened to the concerns of small businesses, tax professionals, industry associations and software providers”, and is working towards reducing GST compliance costs for small businesses. “We are reducing the amount of GST information required for the business activity statement (BAS) to simplify GST bookkeeping and reporting […]
By: Steve Burnham Putting your money into bricks and mortar has been a traditional stalwart of investing for generations of Australians, and continues to be viewed as a solid place to park spare cash and build wealth in the long term. For many years a lot of us seem to have heeded the quote attributed […]
By: Steve Burnham The ATO has issued guidance on making claims for mobile phone use as well as home phone and internet expenses. Substantiation for mobile, home phone and internet costs It says that if a client uses any of these for work purposes, they may be able to claim a deduction if there are records […]
BY: GUEST AUTHOR Are you still paying your employees’ super contributions manually via cheque, EFT or BPAY directly to funds? If so, it’s likely you aren’t compliant with the new, compulsory standard for paying super – SuperStream. As part of SuperStream, you need to pay and report your employees’ superannuation contributions electronically; allowing payments to be […]
By: Rod Myer The Australian Taxation Office has fired a shot across the bows of plans by DomaCom, an investment company, to allow self-managed super fund (SMSF) investors to live in houses their funds own. In response to enquiries from The New Daily, the ATO issued a statement signed by Assistant Commissioner Kasey Macfarlane, saying it was not […]
By: Nicola Field Self-managed super fund trustees and their advisors need to be alert to the latest round of wealth-stripping fraudulent schemes. Fraudsters have Australia’s over-50s in their sights, and pre-retirees with self-managed super funds (SMSFs) are particularly vulnerable. Figures from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) show that in 2015, reported losses to […]
