Tax Advice and Planning - Aston Accountants

2018/19 Budget Updates

The Treasurer handed down the Budget 2018/2019 on 8 May 2018. While there are a lot of proposed changes that will potentially affect individuals such as a 7 year Personal income Tax Plan to lower the income tax liabilities for individuals, there is no certainty as to whether they will become law in future. Meanwhile, let’s recap on the ones that are now law, and will affect taxpayers, especially small businesses immediately. The most important of these is the extension of the less than $20,000 immediate asset write off concession to 30 June 2019 for eligible small businesses.

FBT Updates & Reminder – Exempt Vehicle

The following article applies to those who use motor vehicles in the course of running their businesses.

FBT Motor Vehicle Exemption – Updated Guidelines

For many years, many entities have enjoyed a FBT exemption where:

the vehicle is a panel van, utility (ute) or other commercial vehicle (that is, one not designed principally to carry passengers)
the employee’s private use of such a vehicle is limited to
- travel between home and work
- travel that is incidental to travel in the course of duties of employment
- non-work related use that is minor, infrequent and irregular (eg: occasional use of the vehicle to remove domestic rubbish).

These have been a grey area and have caused confusion to business owners when attempting to work out whether their vehicles are exempt or not.

The ATO has recently released new guidelines to reduce confusion and provide more certainty for employers when applying the FBT exemptions. The guidance notes relate to the clarification on the definition of an employee’s (and/or their associate’s) private use where it is ‘minor, infrequent and irregular’ for FBT purposes.

If you believe you fall under this category and would like more clarity, contact us for more information and we can talk you through this over the phone, or via email.

2018 FBT Return Lodgement

The FBT year has ended 31 March 2018. For those who require a return lodgement, your FBT Return is due by 21 May 2018. Please contact us for instructions on the lodgement of the return.

Motor Vehicle Odometer Readings

For those who provide motor vehicle benefits to employees and/or associates, it is important that you keep records of your vehicle’s odometer reading as at 31 March 2018.

in News / Running A Business / Tax Advice and Planning by Emily Yip

ATO & Director Penalty Notices

With the recent collapse of some high profile businesses, it is a good time to review the personal obligations that can fall on a company director to pay certain tax debts of the business.

Director Penalty Notices:

When a company fails to pay the superannuation contributions for its employees or the PAYG withheld from its employees’ wages, the ATO can recover those debts from the company directors personally. They do this by issuing a Director Penalty Notice (DPN). A DPN outlines the unpaid amounts and if there are any options to have the penalty remitted.

Directors receiving a DPN have only 21 days to pay the debt or to apply for remission by putting the business into the hands of an Administrator or by commencing to wind up the company.

If the PAYG withholding tax or super contributions have not been reported to the ATO within 3 months of the original due date, then there is no option for remission and the Director must either pay the debt or the ATO will initiate legal proceeding to recover the debt.

Directors take note:

When a business is experiencing financial trouble, it is often seen as a better option to ignore lodging BAS returns as the amount of ATO debt will just become larger. However, by doing this, a Director can put their own personal assets at greater risk if they become no longer eligible for remission by acting to put the business into Administration.

If you feel that this may apply to you or to your business, it is best to seek help before the ATO act. We can assist you with your lodgements to keep you up to date and help you manage your cashflow.

Contact Us

More information can be found on the ATO website

in News / Running A Business / Starting a New Business / Tax Advice and Planning by Melissa de Largie

Single Touch Payroll – what you need to do

From 1 July 2018, if you have 20 or more employees, you’ll need to use Single Touch Payroll-enabled software to report your tax and super information to us.

This means that you need to do a headcount of the number of employees on 1 April 2018, if it is 20 or more employees then you are required to use Single Touch Payroll from 1 July 2018.

More information can be found on our article published earlier .

If you require assistance please get in touch with us!

in Bookkeeping and Payroll / News / Running A Business / Tax Advice and Planning / Xero Cloud Accounting by Emily Yip

HELP and TSL Debts and Overseas Travel

Do you have a HELP or TSL Debt? Plan to travel to or reside in another country?

The ATO has introduced changes relating to Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) and Trade Support Loan (TSL) obligations which commenced 1 July 2017.

If you are living or travelling overseas for more than 183 days in a 12 month period, you will be required to make repayments towards your HELP and TSL debts. Repayments will be based on your worldwide income for the 2017 financial year. You will be required to submit an overseas travel notification if you meet certain criteria as well.

In the past your debt repayments were based on your Australian income. However now if you live and work overseas and earn worldwide income that exceeds the minimum HELP and TSL repayment thresholds, you will be required to make repayments against your loan.

These changes apply to all new and existing HELP and TSL debts.

The ATO are looking into those individuals with debts that have been overseas for more than 183 days in a 12 month period and issuing Overseas Travel Notification Letters.

More information can be found on the ATO website at HELP and TSL Overseas Obligations

What you need to do:

If you have a debt and spend 6 months or more overseas then you are required to lodge an Overseas Travel Notification or a non lodgement advice with the ATO.

You can lodge the form yourself through your My Gov account before 31 October following the end of a financial year. Alternatively you can give us a call to help you lodge this form. As a registered tax agent we will also receive a lodgement extension to help you avoid those late lodgement penalties from the ATO.