News

Employers are reminded that employee super contributions for the quarter ending 30 September 2025 must be received by the relevant super funds by Tuesday, 28 October 2025.  If the correct amount of SG is not paid by an employer on time, they will be liable to pay the SG charge, which (as noted above) includes a penalty and interest component.

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The ATO is seeing sole traders make mistakes in the following areas: not reporting all income — this includes income earned outside their business (like a ‘side hustle’), cash jobs, or payments in-kind/barter deals; overclaiming expenses — this includes claiming the portion of an expense related to personal use, or overstating the cost of goods sold and other business expenses;

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Employers that supply work vehicles to their employees need to check how the work vehicles are used and whether any exemptions apply to determine if they attract fringe benefits tax (‘FBT’). FBT generally applies when a work vehicle is made available for private use, even if it is not actually used.  Private use includes any travel not directly related to

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Taxpayers who have had work done on their rental property should ensure the expense is categorised correctly to avoid errors when completing their tax return. A deduction for ‘repairs and maintenance’ expenses can be claimed for work done to remedy, or prevent defects, damage or deterioration from using the property to earn income.  These expenses can be claimed in the

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Leaving debts outstanding with the ATO is now more expensive for many taxpayers. As we explained previously, general interest charge (GIC) and  shortfall interest charge (SIC) imposed by the ATO is no longer tax-deductible from 1 July 2025. This applies regardless of whether the underlying tax debt relates to past or future income years. With GIC currently at 11.17%, this

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A recent decision of the Administrative Review Tribunal (Goldenville Family Trust v Commissioner of Taxation [2025]) highlights the importance of documentation and evidence when it comes to tax planning and the consequences of not getting this right. The case involved a family trust which generated significant amounts of income. For the 2015, 2016 and 2017 income years, the trustee attempted

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The ATO is warning businesses that if they incorrectly treat an employee as an independent contractor, then they risk receiving penalties and charges, including: PAYG withholding penalty for failing to deduct tax from worker payments and send it to the ATO; Super guarantee charge (‘SGC’), which is more than the super that would have been paid if the worker was

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The ATO will acquire relevant account and transaction data from the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (‘AFCX’) for the 2025 to 2027 income years, including the following: Client identification details (names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, identity verification document details, IP addresses, etc); and Bank account transaction details (bank account details, transaction date and amount, IP addresses, etc). The ATO

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The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (‘SBSCH’) will close on 1 July 2026. The SBSCH is a free online service provided by the Australian Government through the ATO.  The SBSCH can be used by employers to pay superannuation for all their employees through a single payment.  The SBSCH will then distribute the money to each employee’s superannuation fund according to

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The ATO has the following tips for taxpayers in relation to the CGT main residence exemption. They should consider if they have bought or disposed of property in the past income year.  If they have sold property, were they using it solely as their primary place of residence, earning income from it (rental or business), or was it vacant land?

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