Do your homework when working from home Technology-driven changes to the employment market are seeing record numbers of Australians claiming deductions for expenses incurred while working from home. But a high level of mistakes, errors and questionable claims has prompted the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to increase attention, scrutiny and education for home office expenses…
Crowd Sourced Funding launched 19 October 2018 Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising for small proprietary companies is now available in Australia without requiring a proprietary company to convert to an unlisted public company. The UK, Europe, USA, Canada and New Zealand have been allowing their private companies to utilise crowd source funding equity raising for…
ASIC Financial Reporting Threshold Changes The Government has announced that it will be raising the ASIC financial reporting thresholds in a bid to save small and medium-sized business more than $300 million over the next four years. The thresholds are to be doubled to: $50 million or more in consolidated revenue (was $25 million) $25…
Confusion reigns over superannuation transfer balance cap A recent speech by the ATO’s Assistant Commissioner for Superannuation demonstrates the very practical problems with the new superannuation rules. The $1.6 million transfer balance cap (TBC) that limits the amount you can hold in a superannuation pension requires trustees to be aware of how close they are…
New immediate deduction for primary producers Legislation that passed Parliament last month will enable primary producers to claim an immediate deduction for fodder storage assets such as silos and hay sheds used to store grain and other animal feed. The deduction is available if the primary producer first uses the asset or has the asset…
Working from home What deductions can you claim? For a while now, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has been concerned about tax deductions individuals have been claiming for a whole host of expenses. The latest on their ‘hit list’ are home office expenses. We guide you through what you can and can’t claim if you…
Cryptocurrency guidelines updated The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has updated their guidelines on the tax treatment of cryptocurrencies, following community consultation in 2018. The updated guidelines help you learn more about the tax implications of cryptocurrency, including the practical issues of exchanging one cryptocurrency for another and associated record-keeping requirements. If you have purchased, traded…
What does the China/US trade war mean to Australia? As the bilateral trade war between the US and China heats up, we look at what this might mean to Australia caught between its cultural and military ties to the US and its strong economic relationship with China. At the annual United Nations General Assembly President…
Tax and the enterprise of renting, hiring or sharing their car, caravan or RV sharing If you rent, hire or share your car, caravan or recreational vehicle (RV) through a sharing economy platform, you: must declare the income in your tax return may need to pay goods and services tax (GST) on the amounts you earn…
ATO takes its share of car sharing The extra income earned by people taking part in car sharing services such as Car Next Door or DriveMyCar has come to the attention of the ATO. The car sharing services work by making private cars publicly available in a similar way to other car hire services –…