Knowledge Base - Aston Accountants

Recent changes affecting employers

1 January 2020 seems to be an important day to note for employers as there are 2 changes that employers need to be aware of, in relation to the way superannuation guarantee charges are calculated and payroll tax threshold changes.

Salary sacrificed super contributions and SGC obligations

Prior to 1 January 2020, if an employee decides to salary sacrifice their wages into their super fund accounts, the employer can choose to exclude those amounts in their superannuation guarantee contribution calculation.

Fuel Tax Credit Rate Changes for the 2020 financial year

For those businesses who are registered for fuel tax credits (FTC), do you know there are THREE different rate changes (so far) in the 2020 financial year?

The following tables will come in handy when you prepare your quarterly BAS.

Remember we are always available if you need a helping hand!

December 2019 Super Due Date

December quarter Super will be due 28 January 2020 – for those who use Xero Auto Super, please submit and approve by 21 January 2020 to allow time to process.

If you need assistance with your payroll – why not give us a call?

in Articles / Bookkeeping and Payroll / Knowledge Base / Running A Business / Tax Advice and Planning / Xero Cloud Accounting / Xero Training by Emily Yip

Giving the most with your Bushfire Donation

It’s amazing, and emotionally uplifting, to see how generous Australians are when it comes to making donations to help with the bushfire crisis. It is also a good time to be aware that, for your donation to be tax deductible, it must be made to an organisation that has been given official status by the ATO as a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR). If you are on a high marginal tax rate and know that the donation will give you a year-end tax deduction, that may encourage you to give more.

Most of the major charities are DGRs but sometimes, in times of crisis like this, small groups of people set up local fundraising entities and these might not have registered to be DGRs. Similarly, many of the donation-seeking funds set up online through websites such as GoFundMe will not necessarily be registered as DGRs.

Some people may not be too concerned about this, and may still choose to support the fundraiser that best suits their ethos, no matter whether it gives them a tax deduction. Others may be willing to give more if they know they will get a reduction in their year-end tax.

So, How do you check if an organisation is a DGR?

Think twice before writing 20 instead of 2020

Year 2020 has arrived, and we are nearly a week in. People are starting to get back to work – so are scammers.

When dating documents, we love using abbreviations.

Last year we used to write 19 instead of 2019.

So it’s normal for us to write 20 to indicate 2020, but this poses a fraud risk.

A date like 6 Jan 20 can easily be defrauded as 6 Jan 2019 by adding 2 more digits behind the year.

The consequence can be huge: imagine if this is written on a formal contract and the date has been fraudulently backdated, where you are liable for any monies owing since the date of contract. Or if someone post-dates a cheque that has turned stale.

So save yourself some hassles down the track by writing the full 2020 when dating documents.

in Articles / Knowledge Base / News / Personal Tax Returns / Running A Business / Tax Advice and Planning by Emily Yip