Individuals Personal income tax cuts As anticipated, the Budget celebrated the surplus with a $19.5bn package of personal income tax cuts for Australian residents. This package revises the legislated seven year income tax plan. The personal tax changes mean a tax saving of $855 for someone on an annual taxable income of $45,000 per annum…
ATO’s compliance approach The ATO works with employers by providing tools and calculators to help them understand and meet their super guarantee (SG) obligations and ‘get it right’. The ATO’s compliance approach supports employers who engage with them and want to get things right. They do take firmer action for those unwilling to meet their…
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…
From 1 July Single Touch Payroll applies to all employers What employers need to report will also be extended to include certain salary sacrificed amounts. From 1 July 2019, single touch payroll – the direct reporting of salary and wages, PAYG withholding and superannuation contribution information to the ATO – will apply to all employers.…
Legislation in limbo A budget, an election and the legislation that hasn’t made it through. The February 2019 Parliamentary sitting days were the last opportunity before the Federal Budget for the Government to introduce or push through new legislation. Next month, on 2 April, Parliament reconvenes for the Federal Budget and it’s likely that an…
Has anything changed? Women and girls make up just over half (50.7%) of the Australian population. While women comprise roughly 47% of all employees in Australia, they take home on average $251.20 less than men each week (full-time adult ordinary earnings). The national gender “pay gap” is 15.3% and it has remained stuck between 15%…
What you need to do 1 July 2019 is not that far away. If your business does not already use STP compliant software, you may need to upgrade your systems or implement new ones. STP requires PAYG withholding and superannuation contribution details to be reported to the ATO as payments are made to employees or…
ATO scams The refund scam follows a more sinister four phase scam stating there is a warrant out for your arrest for unpaid taxes in prior years. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has warned about the emergence of a scam where “…scammers are using an ATO number to send fraudulent SMS messages to taxpayers asking…
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…
Statement from Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan about transition to STP for small employers Parliament has now passed legislation to extend Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting to include all small employers (those with fewer than 20 employees) from 1 July 2019. STP is payday reporting by employers to the ATO as it happens, this reporting having started on…