New laws passed by parliament last month directly target the behaviour of taxpayers that don’t meet their obligations. If taxpayers do not meet their PAYG withholding tax obligations, from 1 July 2019 they will not be able to claim a tax deduction for payments: of salary, wages, commissions, bonuses or allowances to an employee; of…
In January 2019, security interests which were originally registered on the Personal Property Securities Register upon the commencement of the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) (PPSA) for a period of seven years will expire. If your business registered seven year security interests on the commencement of the PPSA in January 2012 and the security…
Although tax time 2018 is over, the ATO has warned taxpayers and their agents to remain on high alert for tax scams. Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson has said scammers are growing increasingly sophisticated and hope to exploit vulnerable people, often using aggressive tactics to swindle people out of their money or personal information. The ATO…
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is utilising data provided by the Australian Investments and Security Commission (ASIC) to data match share trades. The ATO is accessing more than 500 million records detailing price, quantity and time of individual trades dating back to 2014. The information complements information that the ATO already holds from brokers, share…
From 1 July 2017, new rules came into effect that prevent taxpayers claiming a deduction for expenses they incur travelling to and from their residential investment property. The Government has restricted travel deductions to curb “widespread abuse around excessive travel expense claims relating to residential investment properties… This will stop residential property investors from using…
For a while now, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has been concerned about the tax deductions individuals have been claiming for a whole host of expenses. The latest on their ‘hit list’ are home office expenses. We guide you through what you can and can’t claim if you work from home. Last financial year, 6.7…
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Accelerated Depreciation for Small Business Entities) Bill 2018 has now passed through both houses of Parliament without amendment. The Bill makes changes to the tax law to extend by 12 months the period during which small businesses can access expanded accelerated depreciation rules for assets that cost less than $20,000. The…
When someone inherits a dwelling there are some special rules contained within the main residence exemption provisions that can provide a full exemption if certain conditions are met. If the conditions are not met, the beneficiary might face a nasty capital gains tax (CGT) bill for their good fortune. In some cases, these conditions require…
Legislation passed by Parliament late last month introduces a new test that will restrict some companies from accessing the lower company tax rate from the 2017-18 financial year. Across a three-year period, the company tax and franking rate changed, then the definition of what is a small business entity changed (from a $2 million to…
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has announced a new data-matching program targeting taxpayers earning income from the exploding popularity of short-term rentals available on platforms like Airbnb and Stayz. Utilising information from online platform sharing sites matched to information from financial institutions, the ATO is targeting 190,000 individuals to make sure they have not failed…