Benefits during emergencies exempt from FBT If your business assists employees during an emergency, for example floods, bushfires etc, then fringe benefits tax is unlikely to apply to the assistance you provide. While we doubt anyone would be thinking about FBT during a crisis, it’s good to know that the tax system does not disadvantage…
Another year, another scam! While data-driven crime is more sophisticated and difficult to address than ever, human error and judgement remains one of the major problems. 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 breaches resulted from…
Life does not always go to plan While we logically know that, most of us don’t plan for the worst – it’s all a bit morbid and time-consuming. The downside of not planning is the potential for hard-earned assets to be squandered, family fall-outs, and money handed to the Government that could have been distributed…
Do you earn income overseas? A recent case highlights why you might pay more tax than you thought on foreign income. If you are an Australian resident and earn income from overseas, such as income from investments, sale of assets such as property, distributions from foreign trusts, etc., you will generally need to declare that…
Expenses you can claim If you’re an employee who regularly works from home, you may be able to claim a deduction for expenses relating to that work. These are generally home office running expenses, and phone and internet expenses. In limited circumstances you may also be able to claim occupancy expenses. One such circumstance is…
773M accounts affected by ‘Collection #1’ breach The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) is aware of a significant data breach affecting 773 million email addresses and usernames. Titled ‘Collection #1’, the data breach was made public by Australian cyber security expert Troy Hunt, who identified that a large number of credential lists had been distributed on…
No tax deductions if you don’t meet your tax obligations New laws passed by parliament last year directly target the behaviour of taxpayers that don’t meet their obligations. Tax deductions denied If taxpayers do not meet their PAYG withholding tax obligations, from 1 July 2019 they will not be able to claim a tax deduction…
ATO extends data matching program 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…
Super provides income for your workers in retirement Here’s how to run a quick check of your super obligations to make sure you’ve got everything sorted. 1. Check you’re paying super to all eligible workers. Some contractors may be entitled to super. 2. Check you’re paying the right amount. Currently, you…
The new rules for gift cards – what you need to know In Australia, around 34 million gift cards are sold each year with an estimated value of $2.5 billion. On average, an estimated $70 million is lost because of expiry dates. Until recently, there was no national regulation for the minimum length of time…