Tag: Newsletter

With many businesses looking at Christmas parties, celebrations and gifts, now is a good time to look at what is tax deductible and what isn’t. Are the costs of client gifts deductible? What about gifts for your staff? Those client lunches or drinks, they’re a deductible expense right? Let’s see if we can answer some of these questions for you.

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There are very limited circumstances where taxpayers can legally access their super early, and the ATO is reminding taxpayers that “paying bills and buying Christmas presents doesn’t make the list.” Generally, taxayers can only access their super when they: reach preservation age and ‘retire’; or turn 65 (even if they are still working). To access their super legally before then,

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Employers are reminded that employee superannuation contributions for the quarter ending 31 December 2024 must be received by the relevant super funds by 28 January 2025.  If the correct amount of Superannuaion Guarantee (SG) is not paid by an employer on time, they will be liable to pay the SG charge, which includes a penalty and interest component. The SG

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The Fair Work Commission has determined that a Philippines based “independent contractor” was an employee unfairly dismissed by her Australian employer. Like us, you are probably curious how a foreign national living in the Philippines, who had an ‘independent contractors’ agreement with an Australian company, could be classified as an Australian employee by the Fair Work Commission? The recent case

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The Government has amended the legislation guiding registered tax practitioners to include compulsory reporting of material uncorrected errors to the Tax Commissioner. The Government has legislated a series of changes to the Tax Agents Services Act 2009 that place additional requirements on registered tax practitioners and how they interact with clients. The reforms are in response to the recommendations of

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In a recent decision, a taxpayer’s claims for various work-related expenses were rejected by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The taxpayer was employed as a traffic controller in the 2020 income year.  In his income tax return for that year he claimed $9,800 in work-related deductions, including for car expenses (using the cents per km method), travel expenses, clothing expenses

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From 1 April 2025, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (‘PHEV’) will not be considered a zero or low emissions vehicle under fringe benefits tax (‘FBT’) law and will not be eligible for the electric car FBT exemption.  However, an employer can continue to apply the electric car exemption if: use of the PHEV was exempt from FBT before 1 April

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The ATO will acquire officeholder data from  ASIC and other bodies for the 2024 to 2027 income years, including name, address, date of birth, ABN, contact details, organisation details and officeholder details. The ATO estimates that records relating to more than 11 million individuals will be obtained. The ATO will acquire property management data from property management software companies for

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The digital identity app ‘myGovID’ will soon be changing its name to ‘myID’.  While the name is changing, the login and security will not change. Taxpayers who have already set up their myGovID and use it to access government online services will not need to do anything when the app changes to myID.  They will still have: the same details

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If you are aged 55 years or older, the downsizer contribution rules enable you to contribute up to $300,000 from the proceeds of the sale of your home to your superannuation fund (eligibility criteria applies). In 2023-24, over 57% of people making a ‘downsizer’ contribution to super were women. And, the average value of the contribution was marginally higher at

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