Scams and how to avoid them I got a text the other day “Hi Mum, I have broken my phone and I am using this number.” The “Hi Mum” scam has exploded with more than 1,150 Australians falling victim to the ploy in the first seven months of 2022, with total reported losses of $2.6 [...]
Can you prevent a hack? In the wake of the Optus data leak, legislation before Parliament will lift the maximum fine for serious or repeated breaches of the Privacy Act from $2.2m to up to $50m. But there are no guarantees that even the strongest safety measures will prevent an attack. So, what does that [...]
Lessons from a data breach The Optus data breach is top of mind for a lot of Australians, particularly those who have had their data breached. For business, the breach is a timely warning on the importance of understanding what data is held on your customers (and should you hold it?), how it is secured, [...]
Australian super funds gorge on cryptocurrency The value of cryptocurrency assets inside Australian self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) increased by 589.9% ($1.17bn) between June 2019 and June 2022, according to the latest ATO statistics. While cryptocurrency is a relatively small asset class at only 0.16% of the $837bn held in SMSFs, it is a growing [...]
ATO contacts ‘at risk’ professional services firms New guidelines for professional services firms - lawyers, architects, medical practitioners etc., came into effect on 1 July 2022. The guidance takes a strong stance on structures designed to divert income in a way that results in principal practitioners receiving relatively small amounts of income personally for their [...]
States move on property based taxes Queensland backs down on Australia wide land tax assessment The Queensland Government has backed away from an amendment that would have seen the land tax rate for investment property in Queensland assessed on the value of the investor’s Australia wide land holdings from 1 July 2023, not just the [...]
COVID downgraded but not gone National Cabinet agreed to end the mandatory isolation requirements for COVID-19 effective from 14 October 2022. Each state and territory has, or will, implement the end of the isolation rules. The Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment, the payment to workers who have lost income they needed to self isolate or care [...]
To cut or not to cut? Stage three personal tax cuts In September, amid a climate of startling interest rates, UK Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced a series of tax cuts, including the reduction of the top personal income tax rate that applies to those earning more than £150,000 from 45% to 40%. Just ten days [...]
120% deduction for skills training and technology costs The Government has reinvigorated the 120% skills training and technology costs deduction for small and medium business. An election ago, the 2022-23 Budget proposed a 120% tax deduction for expenditure by small and medium businesses on technology, or skills and training for their staff. This proposal has [...]
How to sell your business We’re often asked the best way to sell a business. There are two key components at play in the sale of a business: structuring the transaction; and positioning the business to the market. Both elements are important and can significantly impact your result. Structuring the transaction covers areas such as [...]