The 120% deduction for skills training and technology costs It’s a great headline isn’t it? Spend $100 and get a $120 tax deduction. Days after the Federal Budget announcement that businesses will be able to claim a 120% deduction for expenditure on training and technology costs, we started receiving marketing emails encouraging us to spend [...]

Are Your Contractors Really Employees? Two landmark cases before the High Court highlight the problem of identifying whether a worker is an independent contractor or employee for tax and superannuation purposes. Many business owners assume that if they hire independent contractors they will not be responsible for PAYG withholding, superannuation guarantee, payroll tax and workers [...]

Immediate Deductions Extended Temporary full expensing enables your business to fully expense the cost of: new depreciable assets improvements to existing eligible assets, and second hand assets in the first year of use. Introduced in the 2020-21 Budget and now extended until 30 June 2023, this measure enables an asset’s cost to be fully deductible [...]

Pandemic Leave Disaster Payments rules change The rules for the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment, the payment accessible to those who have lost work because they have had to self-isolate with COVID-19, or are caring for someone who contracted it, changed on 18 January 2022. The new rules change the definition of a close contact in [...]

Professional Services Firm Profits Guidance Finalised The Australian Taxation Office’s finalised position on the allocation of profits from professional firms starts on 1 July 2022. The ATO’s guidance uses a series of factors to determine the level of risk associated with profits generated by a professional services firm and how they flow through to individual [...]

2022: The year ahead 2021 was to be the year we returned to a post-COVID normal however the pandemic has fundamentally changed the way many of us operate in our personal and work lives. Here is some of what we can expect in 2022: Federal Election The Federal election will be held between March and [...]

The ‘Backpacker Tax’ and the High Court The High Court has ruled that the ‘backpacker tax’ is discriminatory. We look at the impact. Since 2017, the ‘backpacker tax’ has taxed the first dollar of income a backpacker earns in Australia - regardless of their residency status - at the working holiday maker tax rate of [...]

The top Christmas tax questions Every year, we are asked about the tax impact of various Christmas or holiday related gestures. Here are our top issues: Staff gifts The key to Christmas presents for your team is to keep the gift spontaneous, ad hoc, and from a tax perspective, below $300 per person. $300 is [...]

If Santa was an Australian tax resident A lighter look at the complexity of Australian taxation laws and the year that has been. Dear Mr Claus, Thank you for the opportunity to provide strategic business, tax and compliance advice for your operation. We’re pleased you have initiated this advice as the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) [...]

Overseas gifts and loans in the spotlight The ATO has recently issued an alert on gifts or loans from overseas. The ATO is particularly concerned about schemes and arrangements designed specifically to circumvent Australian tax laws. In general, Australian-resident taxpayers need to declare their worldwide income in their Australian tax return. Some schemes however disguise [...]