Everybody knows about depreciation (really?). Sadly sometimes a person’s knowledge about how depreciation impacts on a family business reporting is blurry. This is also compounded by how some tax accountants in Perth are treating depreciation in the books of a family business. Business reports should not be tax reports. The charge of depreciation in the… Continue reading Why depreciation makes your business reports useless
By Westcourt Blogger Despite the Australian Tax Office’s education campaign on GST reporting, many small business owners continue to make errors when claiming GST credits in their GST returns or Business Activity Statements. The vast majority of errors are easily unavoidable and relate to the over-claiming of GST credits. Here are the top ten common… Continue reading Common GST mistakes
By Westcourt Blogger Giving to charity this Christmas is a great way to give to those less fortunate while receiving some extra tax perks. Charitable donations are tax deductible which only adds to the incentive to be generous this holiday season. Here are some tips for maximising your tax breaks on charitable donations: The charity… Continue reading Guide to tax-deductible gifts
By Westcourt Blogger The ATO has provided further guidance regarding limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBAs) and when non-arm’s length income (NALI) rules apply to a related party LRBA. The Tax Office recently released a Taxation Determination (TD 2016/16) and updated their Practical Compliance Guideline (PCG 2016/5/) to provide further clarification concerning the circumstances where a… Continue reading ATO provides further guidance on SMSF related party arrangements
By Westcourt Blogger If your small business is registered for GST (Goods & Services Tax), most of your sales in Australia will include GST. Sales which include GST (taxable sales) are: – made for payment (monetary or other) – made in the course of operating your business (including any capital assets sold) – connected with… Continue reading When to Charge GST
By Westcourt Blogger The ATO is currently targeting contrived trust arrangements that minimise tax by creating artificial differences between the taxable net income and distributable income of closely held trusts. Arrangements where trustees are engineering a reduction in trust income to improperly gain favourable tax breaks or pay no tax at all are being targeted… Continue reading ATO Crackdown on Trusts
By Westcourt Blogger Income tests are used to work out a person’s eligibility for tax offsets and benefits which can reduce the amount of tax they have to pay. The Australian Taxation Office considers various items from a person’s tax return when applying income tests. For example, a number of offsets, benefits and obligations are… Continue reading Income tests for tax offsets
By Westcourt Blogger Tax offsets (also known as’rebates’) can directly reduce the amount of tax payable on a person’s taxable income. While claiming certain tax offsets can reduce a person’s tax payable to zero, on their own, they cannot create a tax refund. Here are three common types of tax offsets some individuals are eligible… Continue reading Claiming tax offsets and rebates
By Westcourt Blogger The Australian Tax Office has recently collaborated with industry representatives to develop a safe harbour for car fringe benefits. A safe harbour is a guideline that allows Australian businesses to make use of an efficient way to calculate tax where certain conditions are met. This particular safe harbour will simplify the approach… Continue reading ATO develops safe harbour for car fringe benefits
By Westcourt Blogger The Australian Tax Office has warned small businesses that time is running out to start paying superannuation contributions in the new and mandatory electronic standard called SuperStream. SuperStream is the new mandatory way employers must make super contributions on behalf of their employees. It involves employers sending all super payments and employee… Continue reading ATO warns small businesses of SuperStream deadline
