18 July 2021

The Director Identification Number (DIN) regime may have been lost in many business owners’ peripheral vision, or even dropped off the radar completely, as it has been on the horizon for some time. But it is worth keeping in mind the ramifications of the measure, as the details could become important sooner than many realise, even before this year is out.

The legislation putting the regime in place has already been passed in June last year, but the scheme is not yet in operation. This is initiated by “proclamation”, which is required to happen within two years of the legislation becoming law.

The regime is part of the government’s “modernising business registers” program, which is intended to lessen corporate phoenix activity – the process of continuing business activity of a company that has been liquidated to avoid its debts — with the DIN regime increasing accountability by making directors traceable.

Continue reading “New Director Identification Number regime could be just around the corner” →

3 July 2021

Government agencies regularly access data contained in the ABN registration, and where this is not up-to-date the taxpayer may be missing out on stimulus measures, grants, and other government support.

This became painfully evident during the 2019-20 bushfires, and is now re-surfacing during COVID-19 when it was found that a concerning amount of ABN data was out-of-date.

The ATO and the Australian Business Register are making efforts to remind businesses and relevant taxpayers that it is essential to ensure ABN registration details are accurate and completely up-to-date.

Continue reading “Make sure you update your ABN: It can be vital” →

10 April 2021

A business may no longer be required to lodge single touch payroll (STP) reports for a number of reasons. These are if your business no longer has employees, has ceased trading, has changed structure, is not paying employees for the rest of the year, or has paused due to COVID-19.

Depending on your business’s situation and circumstances, what you need to do may be different.

Continue reading “Single touch payroll: When your reporting can cease” →

7 February 2021

When you first went into business, either buying an established enterprise or starting from scratch, probably the last thing on your mind was the day you would close the door for the last time.

But in a way it’s inevitable, whether through the outcomes from COVID-19, retirement, health reasons or, in a more ideal scenario, pursuing another career. But it’s important for you to know what’s involved when you come to the time when you close your business, as this can go a long way to smoothing the transition.

For starters, it’s important that all your tax issues are finalised before you cancel your Australian business number (ABN), which ceases that business. This allows the ATO to finalise your business’s account and issue any refunds that may be owing.

Continue reading “Calling time out on your business? Some essentials you’ll need to know” →

11 December 2020

Scammers never seem to rest, with even the lastest JobKeeper iteration coming in for some scam treatment. In a new update the ATO reports that it is receiving reports of email scams about JobKeeper and backing business investment claims. “The fake emails say we’re investigating your claims. They ask you to provide valuable personal information, including copies of your driver’s licence and Medicare card.”

During this time of heightened scam activity, the ATO is encouraging individuals and businesses to:

1. Use multi-factor authentication where possible and don’t share your password with anyone
2. Run the latest software updates to ensure operating systems security is current
3. Secure your private wi-fi network with passwords (not the default password) and do not make financial transactions when using public wi-fi networks
4. Exercise caution when clicking on links and providing personal identifying information
5. Only access online government services via an independent search – not via emails or SMS
6. If in doubt, call the ATO on an independently sourced number to verify an interaction
   Educate your staff on cyber safety and scams.

To report a data breach or scam visit ato.gov.au/onlinesecurity

17 October 2020

Think your business is too small or that your data and information isn’t important enough to be targeted by hackers? Think again.

Much of our communication, be it personal or businesses-related, has increasingly moved online in the last two decades, and continues to do so, especially in these recent times of COVID-19 with nearly everyone doing business exclusively online. Every day, thousands of pieces of information are transmitted via email, text, Messenger, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, social media and so on.

Yet while we’ve launched with a vengeance into the online world, whether by choice or of COVID-necessity, how many of us have kept pace with adequate cyber protections and insurances? Every day, we see individuals and businesses being targeted by cyber criminals. And it’s not just the big end of town in the crosshairs — plenty of smaller practices fall victim to cyber crime.

Cyber insurance can be regarded as business-critical insurance because statistics show that the likelihood of a claim occurring within a cyber insurance policy is now as high, if not higher, than making a claim against your business insurance or PI insurance.

Yet not all insurance policies are the same, and so businesses need to understand exactly what they are and are not covered for. At a minimum, a cyber policy should provide a 24/7 breach response service (including IT forensic services), breach response management, credit monitoring, public relations crisis management, civil and regulatory defence costs and penalties, cyber extortion costs, business interruption cover and cyber terrorism.

Continue reading “The realities of insuring against cyber crime” →

22 January 2020

There is a simple step that many businesses can take to better manage the risk that can attach to certain assets.

Not so many years ago, a new scheme was introduced, which also established a national register, that could affect anyone who answers “yes” to any of the following scenarios — are you in business, and do you:

• sell goods on retention of title terms?
• hire, rent or lease out goods?
• buy or sell valuable second-hand goods or assets?
• want to raise finance using stock or other assets as collateral?
• work as an adviser to clients who conduct these activities?

As you will gather from the very wide-ranging scenarios listed above, the scheme (the Personal Property Security Register, or PPSR) can potentially cover a significant proportion of Australian business.

Continue reading “If you’re in business, you need to know about the PPSR” →

24 May 2019

Tax invoices are an essential element of Australia’s taxation system, and serve both to collect taxation revenue related to the goods and services on which GST is levied as well as record the credits that are claimable by eligible businesses.

A business registered for GST will generally be required to hold a tax invoice for any transaction in order for an input tax credit to be claimed. The tax invoice can usually only be issued by the entity that made the taxable supply, which generally must issue a tax invoice as a normal incident of transactions, or within 28 days of a request to do so.

Tax invoices are not required where the GST-exclusive value of the transaction does not exceed $75 (that is, a GST-inclusive price of $82.50) or if the goods or services supplied are GST-free, such as many food items. (And if you are wondering why $75, it’s merely a reflection, in miniature, of the turnover threshold of $75,000 at which a business must be registered for GST.)

To qualify as a bone fide tax invoice, it generally must include certain details, such as the seller’s identity (name, ABN), date, the form of supply, the price, the GST amount and so on.

Suppliers who fail to issue a tax invoice or adjustment note as required are liable to an administrative penalty from the ATO. If a tax invoice or adjustment note is not provided, it is generally expected that the recipient will make genuine reasonable attempts to request one. The emphasis however is on “genuine reasonable attempts”, as the ATO does not generally require anyone to go to extraordinary lengths to pursue a supplier for the tax invoice.

Continue reading “Alternatives to a tax invoice for certain GST credit claims” →

5 May 2019

Being a director of a company, as with any elevation of status, is a role that also brings with it added responsibilities and duties.

Company directors need to keep in mind that the Corporations Act holds directors personally liable for many of the legal and financial obligations expected from a company. These include, but are not limited to, any debts incurred if the company becomes insolvent and losses arising from a director’s lapse of duty.

The corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), says failing to perform your duties as a director can, in the more extreme cases, lead to being found guilty of a criminal offence with a penalty of up to a maximum of $200,000, or imprisonment for up to five years, or both.

Continue reading “What you need to know about the beefed-up director penalty regime” →

6 April 2019

A major change in the way employers report the tax and super information for their employees to the ATO has been on the way for a while now. The single touch payroll (STP) system started to be rolled out gradually from 1 July 2018 for what the ATO refers to as “substantial” employers (those with 20 or more staff). Recently passed legislation extends STP to all employers, regardless of the number of staff, from 1 July this year.

Continue reading “Single touch payroll rollout for smaller employers” →