Wise Accounting Podcast (wap)

Welcome back the podcast! In this episode we cover off the latest JobKeeper developments, the SGC amnesty and that lodgement extensions ar enot really extensions at all. On Friday the 24th of April the treasurer carved out full time students aged 16 and 17 from the JobKeeper system. This was a moving forward approach and therefore any payment made in advance of this date will still qualify for the JobKeeper reimbursement. The JobKeeper alternative test has been announced. If you cannot satisfy the basic test, which is a reduction or expected reduction in GST turnover, then the alternative turnover test can be applied for: a. Entities that have newly commenced business such that there is no relevant comparison period in 2019 b. Entities that acquired or sold part of their business which affected turnover c. Where there was a restructure of the business that affected turnover d. Where a business experienced rapid growth in turnover such that its projected turnover is not comparable to the 2019 period e. The bus

The third tranche of the government stimulus package has just been announced, and this is centred around a $130 billion stimulus payment, with indications the Government are not done yet. The Government has now contributed $320 billion to the Coronavirus fight, which accounts for 16.4% of GDP.  This latest stimulus package is built around a $1,500 per fortnight gross payment to employees.

On March 23rd parliament passed legislation that would see the updated COVID-19 Stimulus Package introduced by the Government become law. This carries with it changes to the cashflow assistance as well as the widening of other assistance payments. The changes are vast, and the impacts will hopefully be positive for you, and the economy at large.

I wanted to start with something I am passionate about, and glad to see the ATO cracking down on, and that is essentially widening the net in regards to illegal phoenix activities. For those of you that do not know, Phoenixing is essentially abandoning a company and then recommencing a similar company with similar stakeholders, but essentially your tax liabilities from the former company are neglected, and abandoned. Hence the term Phoenix, it is essentially a company that rises form the ashes of another. The benefit of a company is that the directors are protected by the corporate veil and generally are not personally liable for the liabilities of the company. This has changed in recent years, and the recently enacted Treasury Laws Amendment (combating Illegal Phoenixing) Act 2020 takes this further still. What is new in this is act, which is already in effect, is that there are new phoenix offences, which essentially serve to prohibit creditor-defeating actions. This essentially prohibits any transfer of co

Welcome to Episode 047 of the Wise Accounting Podcast. This week we discuss the latest developments including: - ATO lodgement and payment concessions to those affected by the bushfires in Australia. - The changes to Single Touch Payroll with the integration to the Child Support Agency - ATO increased data matching and how insurance companies may provide the key to the ATO taxing previously untaxed and unknown asset disposals. If you enjoy the podcast, please feel free to leave a review, as they help immensely; and subscribe to never miss an episode!

Being an accountant and business adviser, I am an extremely lucky person. Not only do I get to help clients achieve their business goals, but I get learn from their successes, and mistakes. With a new year, and a new decade, I wanted to share the 10 biggest lessons I have learned from the past 10 years, drawing on my professional experiences over that time. These are not in any order, and I’d argue all are as important as each other. I have seen many people improve their professional and personal well being by improving on only one or two of these lessons, but if you can apply all 10 then you will well and truly be on the upward trajectory. The top ten lessons of the last 10 years are:  Priority not Priorities – It is important to have only one priority. If you have more than one then it is a source of confusion, and your ultimate driving purpose changes, depending on what your priority is each day. Have only one and be laser focused on it. It doesn’t matter what your priority is, as every person is differen

Welcome back to the Wise Accounting Podcast, the first since the election! With the results still so fresh, there have not been too many changes yet, with parliament still not sitting. However that does not mean there aren't things to cover. With the coalition retaining power that means we can expect to see the $30,000 immediate asset write off pushed through without issue. This was announced on the budget night, and replaces the $25,000 amount that became effective on January 29 2019 (up from $20,000). While this is not legislation yet, this should be successful in clearing both houses of parliament. Secondly, if you operate in the cash economy (or black economy as the ATO call it) or the sharing economy then you need to very much be up to speed on your reporting requirements and the taxes that apply to you. The ATO have extensive data matching capabilties, and with the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL), the Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) and the GST on Inbound Digital Sales and Low Value Goods being in pl

We're back! And the reason being is that we have only 4 more days left (apparently) of Parliament sitting days, until the election. Exciting, nervous, lots of things in between, but it does have a tax implication too. What this means is that the $25,000 immediate asset write-off that was announced on 29th January will face an uphill battle to become legislation before parliament breaks. While Labor have supported this, I am unsure how much of a priority it will be. It is very much a watch this space and something we will continue to advise you as updates come to hand. Tax Residency Reform The incumbent Australia tax residency law, that has been unchanged since 1930 is being reviewed with the aim to modernise and simplify it. There have been several cases recently that have highlighted the absurdity of the old rules, and we can expect updates at some point in the future. Updated Superannuation Rates The ATO has published the key superannuation rates and thresholds for the 2019/20 year. Some of these rates and

This episode is a bit of a 'mini-sode' due to the current tax news being significant in nature, specifically the release of the (503 page) Banking Commission Report; of which the Government has agreed to action all 76 recommendations.   Adding to this is the finalisation of the ATO guideline on tax residency of foreign companies. While this may seem extremely niche driven, due to the opening of Australia to some larger companies and simplification due to the "Amazon" tax, the implications will be wider than previously.   Ultimately this episode is a preceding episode to what will be a detailed review of the guideline released and the Banking Commission report.   As always, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to reach out to the team podcast@wiseaccounting.com.au and we'll gladly reply to your queries or suggestions.

As we anticipated, with a short week, and it being January, there is not a huge amount to discuss on the tax news front. However, having said that, it is worth noting that the sharing economy is still in the ATO sights, with the data matching consultation paper open until February 22nd. If you operate your business as an Uber driver, Airbnb host, or anything that derives income from a private asset, you should listen in to understand just what the ATO are up to.   As an added bonus this week Tyler discusses some of the 'common mistakes' he sees from clients in January, which follows on from the Post Christmas Guilts article he wrote earlier this month. Do not overreact to a downturn that occurs in December and January, if it is reflective of years past.   Listen in and enjoy. As always, any queries, comments or suggestions can be emailed direct to podcast@wiseaccounting.com.au and one of our team will be in touch.

As is often the way at this time of year, there are not too many exciting tax development, however, it also the time when certain matters have a habit of flying under the radar. In this weeks podcast we endeavour to make sure no such things occur.   New Home Office Rate   The hourly rate determined by the ATO for deducting home office expenses has been increased from 45 cents to 52 cents per hour for individual taxpayers, effective 1 July 2018. According to the updated Practice Statement PS LA 2001/6, individual taxpayers who claim deductions for work- or business-related home office running expenses may either claim a deduction for the actual expenses incurred or a deduction calculated at the rate of 52 cents per hour. Taxpayers who use the rate per hour method to claim a deduction for home office running expenses only need to keep a record to show how many hours they work from home. They can do this over the course of the year, or if their work from home hours are regular and constant, by keeping a record

Hello and welcome back to the Wise Accounting Podcast. I cannot believe how many people have requested we re-introduce this over the past year, so, yes, after popular demand, we are back! Rather than catch up on the tax news that has occurred over the past year, we will just kick it off with the latest news, which for January is a surprisingly good dose.   MYEFO   There is good news afoot for the government (albeit potentially a little too late) with the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook improving from a deficit of $5.2b in 2018/19 to a surplus of $4.1b in 2019/20.   Some of the measures that re set to improve this position include:   Tax debt information disclosure — a 2016/17 MYEFO measure proposed to allow the ATO to disclose to Credit Reporting Bureaus the tax debt information of businesses with tax debt of more than $10,000 and who have not effectively engaged with the ATO to manage these debts. The measure will be amended to limit the disclosure to businesses with a tax debt of more than $100,000.

Welcome to Episode 38 of the Wise Accounting Podcast, where this week we guide you through the allowable deductions that can be incurred inside of a Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF). These structures are not tax unicorns and are heavily monitored from a compliance point of view. It is imperative that you have a thorough understanding of that you can and cannot do incised of a SMSF as if you get it wrong, and the fund is deemed non-compliant it can be costly, with the fund being taxed on asset positions as opposed to income ones. With SMSF’s continuing their popularity it seemed an ideal time to share this podcast. So, just how popular are SMSF’s? Direct from the ATO. the number of SMSFs increased to 596,516 the number of SMSF members is 1,124,453 the estimated value of SMSF assets is $696.7 billion the top five asset types held by SMSFs by value are listed shares 30% cash and term deposits 23% non-residential real property 11% unlisted trusts 10% other managed investments 5%. To ensure you comply

This week we saw the release of the WA budget, and while there are points that will impact some listeners, however we typically do not discuss the state taxes as they have too fine an impact. If you are a current payroll tax employer in WA you should note these changes and how they may affect you.   The ATO are currently highlighting the tax consequences of activities in the sharing economy, better known as eBay, Uber, Airbnb, FaceBook, Amazon and Airtasker. The sharing economy can be defined very broadly as new kinds of economic and social interactions facilitated by the internet. The ATO provide guidelines on records keeping, deductions allowed, and registrations required. You can find all necessary details here: https://www.ato.gov.au/General/The-sharing-economy-and-tax/Working-in-the-sharing-economy/   The government has introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Housing Tax Integrity) Bill 2017 and the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Fees Imposition Amendment (Vacancy Fees) Bill 2017 into parliament t

WAP036 – Tax News 28th August 2017   This week represented a fairly quiet week on the tax legislation front, however, as always, we have found matters to discuss that could impact you. Following on from the previous podcast, we note that the ATO are currently paying attention to work related car expenses. In 2015/16 over 3 million people made a work related car expense claim, totalling around $8.5b. Many of these claims were at the (5,000km) limit and as a result this is an area the ATO are investigating. As with any deduction, you must ensure that the claim can be substantiated and evidenced (diary evidence suffices in this instance) and is certainly not a free pass from the ATO. The Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan has delivered a speech that the ATO is dedicated to assisting small business, contrary to how it may look, and have several key metrics to ensure this is occurring. The ATO are equally dedicated to eliminating the Black (cash) economy and the aggressive stance is focused towards this; not compliant

This week we discuss the latest tax updates, that were directed more to the individual tax system, more so than corporate. As legislation is set to pass this will change, and rest assured we will dis cuss here. In the meantime, the points discussed today are: The government has issued new Approved Occupational Clothing Guidelines which commence on 1 October 2017 (with previous guidelines repealing from the same date). These guidelines set out the conditions for entitlement to a tax deduction for non-compulsory uniforms and wardrobes where the design of the clothing is entered on the Register of Approved Occupational Clothing (the Register). The Register is kept by AusIndustry. An employee may claim a deduction for expenditure on uniforms or wardrobes (Div 34 of ITAA 1997) where: the clothing is occupation-specific or protective in nature wearing the clothing is a compulsory condition of employment and the clothing is not conventional, or if wearing the clothing is not compulsory, the clothing design is enter

In this week's podcast we discuss some of the tax changes and how they impact you. Despite the low volume of changes since the commencement of the financial year there are still several factors that are impacting tax payers: From July 1st (2017) the annual concessional contributions cap has been reduced to $25,000 and the non-concessional contributions cap to $100,000. Furthermore, where a member's total superannuation balance is greater than $1.6m the non-concessional cap is nil. The ATO are well and truly cracking fown on multinational tax avoidance. Due to the flow on effect of these restructures the ATO are anticipating an additional $100m in income tax (in the first year, & $300m in the first 4 years) with a potential GST revenue impact of $240m. Four million income tax returns have already been lodged to the ATO, with 1.6m of them being lodged individually through my Tax. There have been 2.96 million refunds issued for $6.8b. The draft determinaton for food retailers and the simplified accounting m

Those that know us, know that we are big tech fans, be that hardware or software. One of our favourite Software as a Service providers are Class | Super who allow us to prepare our SMSF fund compliance matters at a level of efficiency we simply have not experienced before. Further to this Class Limited have gone from a private company to a listed company, and their CEO, Kevin Bungard was kind enough to come on to our podcast and answer some of our questions. We get in to how Kevin and Class stay focussed and achieve their goals in a turbulent environment, what the challenges are of running a listed company (compared to a private one), what is in store for Class, and of course, any tips that Kevin has for business owners. It is full of gems throughout, so please enjoy. As I say in the intro, there are some audio drop out issues, however these do not take away from the experience and Kevin's advice and tips still resonate throughout. If you find this podcast, or any of our others beneficial we would really love

Not to rehash podcasts 32 episodes in but in this episode I discuss the ATO benchmarks. While these have not been met with the warmest regards, it is about finding how to put them to work for you. The benchmarking process is a staple of the Wise Accounting service, and you can utilise them in the same way we do. We employ them for 3 reasons: To determine if a business is operating outside of the industry benchmarks and if they are an audit risk. To track how a taxpayer is performing in relation to their industry peers. Test assumptions on new business ventures and forecasted results to see if they pass the "sense test" and are in line with these known percentages. The benchmarks can provide you an insight in to your business that you may not be able to get otherwise. Competitors are not going to share this information with you, and this is the next best thing. The benchmarking data will provide you a handful of key performance indicators to evaluate the performance of your business at any time. Familiarise

U R OK - Wise Accounting Podcast Episode 30 As a caveat we are not in the business of motivation, but we are in the business of ensuring business success and sometimes that means reassuring people. So let us reassure you too, things will be ok. You just need to stay true to what made your business successful previously, monitor your cash and heed the key performance indicators below and discussed: Debtor days - get these down as low as possible. If you are not decreasing debtor days then you are bank rolling your customers and clients. Personal Business Withdrawals - ensure these are not more than the business can afford and maintain. This may mean a (dreaded) pay cut, but could be for the long term survival. Decrease illiquid assets - keep assets that can be easily converted to cash to allow your business to "survive" challenging times. Assets that can be readily converted to cash are worth a premium during tough times. Monitor overhead expenditure - especially labour costs. These need to be at least repres