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GST News
The Government has released draft legislation on 'improving the integrity of GST on property transaction', as announced in the 2017/18 Federal Budget. They intend to amend the GST law so that, from 1 July 2018, pruchasers will withhold the GST on the purchase price of new residential premis ..
Truck drivers' reasonable amounts for travel updated
Following detailed consultation with the transport industry, the ATO has amended their determination for travel expenses for truck drivers to provide separate reasonable travel allowance expense amounts for breakfast, lunch and dinner for employee truck drivers for the 2017/2018 income year. ..
ATO relief for SMSFs reporting 'transfer balance account' events
The ATO has announced that, from 1 July 2018, SMSF event-based reporting regards events impacting a member's transfer balance account (i.e., via a Transfer Balance Account Report) will be limited to SMSFs with members with total superannuation balances of $1 million or more. This reporting ..
ATO's occupation-specific guides
The ATO has developed occupation-specific guides to help taxpayers understand what they can and can’t claim as work-related expenses, including: - C ar expenses - Home office expenses - Clothing expenses - S elf-education or professional development expenses. The guides are available f ..
Ability to lodge nil activity statements in advance
The ATO generally issues activity statements by the end of the relevant month under their normal processes, allowing the statement to be lodged by 21 days after the end of the month, or 28 days after the end of the relevant quarter (as appropriate). However, the ATO recognises that there may b ..
Keeping ABN details up to date
The ATO finds that business tends to forget to update their Australian Business Number (ABN) details in the Australian Business Register (ABR) when their circumstances or details change, so they have asked that we contact our clients to help keep your ABN details up to date. In particular t ..
Change to travel expenses for truck drivers
The ATO has released its latest taxation determination on reasonable travel expenses, and it includes a big change for employee truck drivers. For the 2017/18 income year, the reasonable amount for travel expenses (excluding accommodation expenses, which must be substantiated with written ..
ATO warning regarding work-related expense claims for 2017
The ATO is increasing attention, scrutiny and education on work-related expenses (WREs) this tax time. Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson said: “We have seen claims for clothing and laundry expenses increase around 20% over the last five years. While this increase isn’t a sign that all o ..
Simpler BAS is coming soon
The ATO is reducing the amount of information needed to be included in the business activity statement (or ‘BAS’) to simplify GST reporting. From 1 July 2017, Simpler BAS will be the default GST reporting method for small businesses with a GST turnover of less than $10 million. In relatio ..
Tax officers "hit the streets" to "help small businesses"
The ATO is visiting more than 400 businesses across Perth and Canberra this month as part of a campaign to "help small businesses stay on top of their tax affairs". Assistant Commissioner Tom Wheeler said: “Our officers will be visiting restaurants and cafés, hair and beauty and other sma ..
Recent Posts
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