By Steve Burnham While unearned income distributed by a trust to minor beneficiaries is generally taxed at punitive rates, this is not always the case, in particular where assets have devolved to the trustee as a result of death or disability. Taxpayers and advisers should therefore be vigilant to ensure that the opportunity to distribute […]
By Steve Burnham A question was asked of the ATO recently, via its “ATO Community” webpage (find out more about that here) that centred on the viability of deeming bitcoin (or any cryptocurrency) as a personal use asset. The follow-up portions of the question of bitcoin as a personal use asset were as follows: Does a […]
By Max Newnham There is often a misconception among new business owners that they are taxed on the money they withdraw from their business. For nearly every business entity structure this is not the case, the only exception is when a business is operated through a company. When a business is operated through a company, and […]
By Steve Burnham That employees are required to travel for work has become increasingly significant, especially with the growing influence of a more global economy, and the sometimes necessary moving of businesses for expansion or reaching out to new markets. Being asked by the boss to travel for work purposes can be demanding on staff […]
By Steve Burnham There have been some important developments for GST and cross-border transactions regarding taxing digital products and low value goods. Simon Dorevitch, Senior Tax Consultant at A&A Tax Legal Consulting, reviews the changes. When the GST Act and Regulations were drafted in 1999, e-commerce was in its infancy – it was not fully envisaged that […]
By Paul Benson Whether you’re planning for a traditional retirement in your 60s or older, or working towards an early retirement goal, thoughts of “will my money run out?” will no doubt have crossed your mind. Often people’s instinct is to search for the best return possible each year. But actually a far more important objective […]
By Gabriela Rusu Most superannuation strategies revolve around the effective use of contributions to gradually build the amount of super savings needed to live comfortably in retirement. Super contribution limits and tax concessions changed on 1 July 2017, placing significant restrictions on the ability to make additional contributions to super. Concessional (before-tax) contributions Concessional contributions include […]
By Steve Burnham Simon Dorevitch, Senior Tax Consultant at A&A Tax Legal Consulting, examines the pitfalls of satisfying the active asset test for assets that are used to derive rent. To access the small business CGT concessions, certain conditions must first be satisfied. One such condition is that the CGT asset satisfies the active asset […]
By Rod Myer Life insurance in superannuation can cost the average person hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year, and its costs can reduce overall retirement balances by tens of thousands of dollars. Whether you realise it or not, you are probably paying for a life insurance policy through your superannuation fund. Which means […]
By Rod Myer Superannuation fund members are increasingly making active investment choices and are less likely to leave their money in default or balanced options than 10 years ago, according to new research from SuperRatings. In 2008, 73.7 per cent of members in accumulation mode had their money in the balanced option, but by the end of 2017 […]
