Blog

​ATO watching for foreign income this Tax Time

Scott Robertson - Wednesday, September 11, 2019

The ATO is urging taxpayers who receive any foreign income from investments, family members or working overseas to make sure they report it this tax time. New international data sharing agreements allow the ATO to track money across borders and identify individuals not meeting their oblig ..

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"Outrageous" deductions rejected

Scott Robertson - Wednesday, September 11, 2019

The ATO has published some of the most unusual claims that they disallowed last financial year. Nearly 700,000 taxpayers claimed almost $2 billion of ‘other’ expenses, but the ATO's systematic review of claims had found, and disallowed, some very unusual expenses, including: - clai ..

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​ATO guidance regarding incorrect ENCC determinations

Scott Robertson - Thursday, August 15, 2019

The ATO has acknowledged that an incorrect excess non-concessional contribution ('ENCC') determination may issue due to a known system issue with the calculation of some SMSF member’s total super balance ('TSB'). Editor: Recent super reforms have meant that individuals are restricted from ..

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The ATO hits the road

Scott Robertson - Tuesday, July 09, 2019

The ATO plans to visit almost 10,000 businesses this financial year in all States and Territories, across a variety of industries, as part of their strategy to deal with the black economy (they visited nearly 9,000 businesses in the 2018/19 financial year). According to Assistant Commissio ..

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Motor vehicle registries data matching program protocol

Scott Robertson - Saturday, June 08, 2019

The ATO will match the data provided by the State and Territory motor vehicle registering authorities against the ATO’s taxpayer records with the objective of identifying those who may not be meeting their registration, reporting, lodgement and payment obligations. Details will be requeste ..

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ATO guidance regarding 'downsizer contributions'

Scott Robertson - Tuesday, December 11, 2018

The ability to make 'downsizer contributions' effectively commenced on 1 July 2018, prompting the ATO to release further guidance with respect to this new superannuation contribution classification. This new measure will be of most assistance for individuals approaching retirement, where they  ..

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ATO Updates

Chris Thorne - Thursday, December 06, 2018

The ATO has extended its data matching program, this time focusing on share data. The ATO will continue to receive share data from ASIC, including details of the price, quantity and time of individual trades dating back to 2014, with more than 500 million records obtained. The ATO will use t ..

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Scammers impersonating tax agents

Chris Thorne - Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Taxpayers are advised that if they are suspicious about a phone call from someone claiming to be the ATO, then they should disconnect and call the ATO or their tax agent to confirm the status of their tax affairs and verify the call. The ATO has received increasing reports of a new take on ..

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Proposed expansion of STP to smaller employers

Chris Thorne - Tuesday, November 06, 2018

Single Touch Payroll (‘STP’) commenced on 1 July 2018 for approximately 73,000 employers who have 20 or more employees. There is currently legislation before Parliament to expand STP to all employers from 1 July 2019 and it is estimated that there will be more than 700,000 employers who  ..

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Increased scrutiny of home office claims

Chris Thorne - Tuesday, October 02, 2018

Last year, 6.7 million taxpayers claimed a record $7.9 billion in deductions for 'other work-related expenses', which includes home office expenses. Reportedly, due to a high number of mistakes, errors and questionable claims for home office expenses, the ATO has recently advised that it wi ..

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