The Victorian State Revenue Office (SRO) is changing their approach to discretionary trusts which purchase property with a contract date post 1 March, 2020.

What does this mean for you?

From 1 July 2020, new rules will come into effect to ensure that an employee’s salary sacrifice contributions cannot be used to reduce the amount of superannuation guarantee (SG) paid by the employer.

The Government has resurrected its plan to remove access to the main residence exemption for non-residents – a move that will impact on expats and foreign residents.

You might have seen the recent spate of media freedom advertisements as part of the Your Right to Know campaign. The prime-time advertising states that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) can take money from your account without you knowing. The question is, do you really know what powers the ATO have?

Last month, the ATO released statistics showing small business is responsible for 12.5% ($11.1 billion) of the total estimated ‘tax gap’.

Would you claim the Lego you bought for your kids throughout the year as a tax deduction? One taxpayer did and it made the Australian Taxation Office’s 2018-19 list of most unusual claims.

When an employee uses a taxi service for travel to or from work or if the employee is sick, it is generally exempt from Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) under the FBT taxi travel exemption. The question is, what about Uber and other ride sharing services, do they also qualify for the exemption?

The recent income tax cuts that passed through Parliament do not mean everyone automatically gets $1,080 back from the Government as soon as they lodge their income tax return. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has been inundated with calls from taxpayers wanting to know where their money is and how they can access the $1,080 they now believe is owing to them.

By 30 June 2019, five major financial institutions paid $119.7 million in compensation for poor financial advice to 6,318 customers. The question is, how are these payments treated for tax purposes?

The end of financial year is upon us again (yep sneaks up doesn’t it!). Are you ready? Have you considered what you can do to maximise your opportunities at this time of the year? There are many ways to take advantage of tax planning initiatives to manage taxable income.

Single Touch Payroll (STP) is a new regulation introduced by the ATO. All large businesses (more than 20 employees) should now be using STP, or have applied for a later start date. For employers with less than 20 employees, STP reporting will begin on 1 July 2019.

For most people the end of a relationship is an extremely traumatic time, and there are very few couples who go through this process without seeking the professional advice of a family lawyer.

In general, taxpayers are able to deduct from their assessible income any expenses they incur generating or producing that income. An investment is negatively geared when the cost of owning the asset is more than the return. Negative gearing is not limited to property but can apply to other assets such as shares.

The Federal Budget announced a series of measures, some of which were legislated before the election was called.

The latest data breach report from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is surprising for the simplicity of the problems - 37% of data beaches resulted from human error not malicious attack. In over 20% of reported cases, personal information was simply sent to the wrong recipient. Another 6% of complaints were attributed to system faults.

A former Foodora Australia delivery rider, Joshua Klooger, recently won an unfair dismissal claim despite a service agreement that classified him as an independent contractor. We explore the implications of the case.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is utilising data provided by the Australian Investments and Security Commission (ASIC) to data match share trades.

Parliament passed new laws last month directly aimed at the behaviour of taxpayers that don’t meet their PAYG obligations.

Small business is still a vote winner with the Government and Opposition teaming up to accelerate tax cuts for the sector by 5 years impacting on an estimated 3.3 million businesses.

Why is it that many women choose not to seek more professional financial advice?

In general, women have a longer life expectancy than men, living on average 6 years longer, so there is a high chance of women outliving a partner. This means that for many women, their superannuation will have to stretch further.

1 July 2018 is the start date for the seven year income tax plan announced in the recent 2018-19 Federal Budget. The seven year plan benefits low and middle income earners in the first few years before expanding out to a broader restructure of the tax rates and brackets for everyone.

No one wants to pay more tax than they need to or face unnecessary risks. We’ve compiled a list of our top tips for you.

For individuals there are personal tax bracket changes coming from 1 July 2018 - The top threshold of the 32.5% personal income tax bracket will increase from $87,000 to $90,000*.

Employers that have fallen behind with their superannuation guarantee (SG) obligations will have 12 months to “self-correct” under a new amnesty announced late last month.

The 2018 Federal budget was handed down by Treasurer Scott Morrison in Canberra on Tuesday 8 May in the midst of Australia experiencing its 27th year of consecutive growth.

Single Touch Payroll (STP) – the direct reporting of salary and wages, PAYG withholding and superannuation contribution information to the ATO – comes into effect from 1 July 2018.

A recent Parliamentary Inquiry into Tax Deductions created some fairly sensational headlines about what and how deductions are being claimed - $22 billion worth to be exact. 

The Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) year ends on 31 March. We’ve outlined the key hot spots for employers and employees.

On 1 July 2018 Super concessions for downsizers come into effect. If you are over 65, have held your home for 10 years or more and are looking to sell, you can contribute a lump sum of up to $300,000 per person to superannuation without being restricted by the existing non-concessional contribution caps - $100,000 subject to your total superannuation balance - or age restrictions.

An analysis by Industry Super Australia submitted to the Economics References Committee into Wage Theft and Superannuation Guarantee Non-compliance, indicates that employers failed to pay an aggregate amount of $5.6 billion in SG contributions in 2013-14