7 October 2023
Looking to boost your employees’ skills and your tax deductions at the same time? Then keep reading to see if you could be eligible for the small business skills and training boost!
If you run a small or medium business and are planning on investing in, or recently invested in, training your employees, taking care to ensure the training is provided by a registered training provider could mean you can claim an additional 20% bonus tax deduction at tax time.
Continue reading “Small business skills and training boost” →
12 July 2023
Although not related to tax, there are a number of changes on the Fair Work front that employers should be aware of:
Minimum wage increase
The National Minimum Wage applies to employees who aren’t covered by an award or registered agreement.
From 1 July 2023, the new National Minimum Wage will be $882.80 per week or $23.23 per hour.
The new National Minimum Wage will apply from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2023. This means if your weekly pay period starts on Monday, the new rates will apply from Monday, 3 July 2023.
Note that if a worker is covered by a registered agreement, the minimum wage increase may apply to them. This is because the base pay rate in a registered agreement can’t be less than the base pay rate in the relevant award. Check your agreement by searching for it on the Commission’s website: Find an agreement
24 June 2023
Are you an employer who needs to make superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions for your employees? If so, it may be worthwhile bringing forward these SG contributions to before 1 July to benefit from a tax deduction this financial year.
However the timing of when SG contributions are deductible to an employer can be tricky if employers pay SG contributions for their employees via a superannuation clearing house (SCH).
Recap – what is a SCH?
The ATO’s free Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) is the only ‘approved’ clearing house – none of the many commercial clearing houses have this status. The SBSCH is a free service that small businesses with 19 or fewer employees, or an annual aggregated turnover of less than $10 million, may use to make superannuation contributions to employees.
The SBSCH aims to reduce compliance costs for small business employers by simplifying and streamlining the process of making employee superannuation contributions, by allowing employers to make a single lump payment of their contributions to the SBSCH each quarter. That lump sum payment is broken into individual payments by the SBSCH, and then contributed to each employee’s respective super fund or RSA.
Continue reading “How to claim an early tax deduction on SG contributions” →
13 May 2023
A recent Federal Court case has highlighted important superannuation guarantee (SG) implications for businesses that engage certain types of contractors.
Background facts
The case of Jamsek v ZG Operations Australia Pty Ltd (No 3) [2023] FCAFC 48 (24 March 2023) concerned two truck drivers who previously drove delivery trucks for a company, ZG Lighting, and its related and predecessor companies for just under 30 years. The drivers provided their services via a partnership with their spouses.
The drivers commenced proceedings against ZG Lighting claiming they were employees for the purposes of section 12(3) the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act (1992).
In the first appeal decision more than two years ago, the Federal Court held that Mr. Jamsek and his colleague Mr. Whitby were employees of ZG Lighting within the ordinary, common law, meaning of that term.
The court, in the first appeal decision, did not consider whether the ‘expanded meaning’ of employee in section 12(3) applied.
The expanded meaning provides that “if a person works under a contract that is wholly or principally for the labour of the person, the person is an employee of the other party to the contract”.
On appeal, the High Court held that the workers were not employees within the ordinary, common law meaning of that term and remitted the matter back to the Federal Court to determine whether Mr. Jamsek and Mr. Whitby were ZG Lighting’s employees within the expanded meaning in s 12(3). That is, were the two workers engaged under contracts that were wholly or principally for their labour? If yes, then an SG obligation arose. That was the question that the Federal Court turned its mind to in March 2023.
Continue reading “Employee or contractor? – the Federal Court weighs in” →
13 May 2023
It is important you keep all your business, staff and client information secure. If your data is lost or compromised, it can be very difficult, time consuming, and costly to recover.
The federal government have created a list of top security tips to help keep your and your clients’ information safe.
Use strong and secure passwords
Regularly change passwords and do not share them.
Use multi-factor authentication where possible. This requires users to provide multiple pieces of information to authenticate themselves – for example, a text message to your phone when logging in to a website.
As a business owner, remember:
15 April 2023
With the end of the FBT year now here, 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 need to prepare a logbook for any vehicle that you provide them with where there is an element of private use. The logbook period is for 12-weeks, which must be representative of typical usage. For example, a period where an employee is taking a block of annual leave is not representative.
Where employees share a vehicle during a year, each employee will need to prepare a logbook to substantiate their respective business use percentage.
Logbooks are valid for five FBT years (including the year the logbook is prepared), provided there is no significant change in the vehicle’s business use. Once the five-year period expires, a new logbook will need to be kept if you wish to continue using the operating cost method. Therefore, if a logbook was last prepared in 2017/18, a new logbook is required for this FBT year (2022/23).
10 December 2022
Hiring additional employees to help with surging end-of-year demand? A New employment form, accessed through ATO online services, will help reduce your compliance time.
It’s an easy way for your employees to provide you and the ATO with the information that the ATO need. If your new employee has a myGov account linked to the ATO, once signed in they can:
Your employees will need your ABN to complete the form. When they submit the form, their tax file number (TFN) declaration details are sent straight to the ATO, so you as their employer do not need to do this. The form will then enable them to print and give you the summary of their tax details. You’ll need the summary so you can input the data into your system.
Continue reading “On-boarding employees for the holiday rush” →
9 October 2022
All existing directors of a company, registered Australian body, registered foreign company, or a director of corporate trustees of an SMSF are required to apply for a director identification number (director ID) by 30 November 2022…so act now! If you are a director of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander corporation (CATSI), you have an additional 12 months to apply to 30 November 2023.
To be clear, if you are currently a director, or plan to become one in the next 12 months, you’ll need a director ID.
Directors must apply for their director ID personally – we as your tax agent cannot apply on your behalf, but we can help you understand the new requirement, if you need to apply, and by when. Beat the rush and get your director ID online today.
Continue reading “Director identification numbers…time is running out” →
14 September 2022
In the past 12 months, the ATO has identified and taken action against 595 websites impersonating its online services. These fake sites are designed to steal passwords, personal information and identity documents, such as passports and driver licences.
Currently, the ATO is seeing many SMS and email scams leading to fake myGov sign-in pages –more than 360 of these scams have reported to the ATO since April 2022. However, there many different types of tax and super scams happening year-round, not just in the lead up to Tax Time.
Scammers are always looking for new ways to convince unsuspecting taxpayers into divulging personal information, such as bank details, usernames and passwords.
9 August 2022
Now that the financial year has come to a close, it’s good time to check all things GST.
Registration
If you are not already registered, you may over the coming period need to register for GST if:
Even if you are under these thresholds, it may be advantageous to register for GST if you typically end up in a GST refund position each tax period. By registering, this will enable you to claim the GST tax credits on certain purchases rather than missing out on those credits because you are not registered. Talk with us further if you are uncertain around this.
Conversely, if your turnover drops below these thresholds or you are contemplating ceasing business, you may deregister from GST. There are certain consequences that flow from deregistering which we can run through with you.
If you are not registered for GST and therefore cannot claim GST credits on business-related purchases, you can claim the GST as a tax deduction – though this is not as profitable as claiming the credit in full if you were GST-registered.
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