The ‘super’ wars A consultation paper released by Treasury has sparked a national debate about the role, purpose and access to superannuation ahead of the 2023-24 Federal Budget. What is the purpose of superannuation? At first glance, the consultation released by Treasury in February titled Legislating the objective of Superannuation sounds innocuous enough. The consultation [...]

Future earnings for super balances above $3m taxed at 30% from 2025-26 The Government has announced that from 2025‑26, the 15% concessional tax rate applied to future earnings for superannuation balances above $3 million will increase to 30%. The concessional tax rate on earnings from superannuation in the accumulation phase will remain at 15% up [...]

What’s the deal with working from home? The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has updated its approach to how you claim expenses for working from home. The ATO has ‘refreshed’ the way you can claim deductions for the costs you incur when you work from home. From 1 July 2022 onwards, you can choose either to [...]

The ATO’s final position on risky trust distributions The ATO has released its final position on how it will apply some integrity rules dealing with trust distributions - changing the goal posts for trusts distributing to adult children, corporate beneficiaries, and entities with losses. As a result, many family groups will pay higher taxes because [...]

Is ‘downsizing’ worth it? From 1 January 2023, those 55 and over can make a ‘downsizer’ contribution to superannuation. Downsizer contributions are an excellent way to get money into superannuation quickly. And now that the age limit has reduced to 55 from 60, more people have an opportunity to use this strategy if it suits [...]

Full throttle in 2023 In a volatile market, keeping to a strategy, or let’s face it creating one, can be tough. The downside of not taking time out for your strategy is that there is a tendency to keep a short-term focus at an operational level to try and pick quick wins to generate financial [...]

How good is ChatGPT at tax? Not being paranoid or anything but we were curious about the skills of the latest innovation to take the world by storm, ChatGPT, and its ability to work with the Australian tax system. Let’s start by saying that we were impressed. Not so much by ChatGPT’s ability to work [...]

How high will interest rates go? Low interest rates have been a mainstay since the global financial crisis of 2008. When the pandemic hit, Governments pushed stimulus measures through the economy and central banks reduced interest rates even further. Coming out of COVID, housing market demand was strong and prices boomed but at the same [...]

30 November director ID deadline The deadline for existing directors of Australian companies to obtain a Director Identification Number is 30 November 2022. All directors of a company, registered Australian body, registered foreign company or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation (ATSI) will need a director ID. This includes directors of a corporate trustee of [...]

Taxing fame: The ATO’s U-turn Sportspeople, media personalities, celebrities and ‘insta’ influencers beware. The ATO has taken a U-turn on how fame and image should be taxed. If you’re famous and make an income from your fame and image, the way the ATO believes you should be taxed on the income you make may change [...]