The ATO is introducing a new system – Single Touch Payroll – to help employers report their employee payment information more easily and efficiently.
Single Touch Payroll is a new system for employers to conveniently report their employee wages, withholding and superannuation information at the time when they prepare payroll on their accounting or payroll software.
Employers are required to complete a TFN Declaration for all new employees. Once completed the form should be sent to the ATO within 14 days of the employee’s start date.
The ATO have developed a fillable TFN declaration form which is available at http://www.ato.gov.au/TFNdec
Rather than calling the ATO to order the form and wait for it to be mailed to you, you can now simply download it. Even your new employee can download the form, fill it in on the screen and then send it to you to complete. Once complete, print it out, have it signed, and send the original copy to the ATO using the address on the form.
The TFN Declaration can be filed through Xero without the need to mail it to the ATO, if you are using Xero to run your payroll.
Remember to keep a copy for your files.
Contact us if you need help
The Bill has passed and received Royal Assent on 30 November 2017 for the Commissioner of Taxation to charge a vacancy fee to foreign residents owning an investment property in Australia that is not occupied. This has been popularly called a “ghost tax”.
The fee only applies to non-Australian tax residents who own a residential property that was “vacant” for more than 183 days in a financial year.
A residential property is “occupied” (ie not “vacant”) when:
(a) the owner or his/her relatives genuinely lives in the property,
(b) the property is under a lease or licence for a minimum of 30 days, or
(c) the property is genuinely available for lease or licence for a minimum of 30 days.
If the property is classed as “vacant” (ie not “occupied”), then the owner of the property will need to file a “Vacancy fee return” to the Commissioner of Taxation and pay the vacancy tax.
While other political issues were holding centre stage in late November 2017, the Parliament very quietly passed a Bill to limit plant and equipment depreciation deductions for rental property owners and deny travel deductions on rental properties. It has received the Royal Assent on 30 November 2017. As detailed in the May 2017 Budget, these changes apply from 1 July 2017 onwards.
You may have heard of Events Based Reporting but not quite sure what this means for you as a member of a SMSF.
The ATO’s initial proposal of Events Based Reporting had software providers, administrators and professional bodies scratching their heads at the thought of the additional administration and costs required to adhere to the ATO’s new requirements.
There have been many disgruntled conversations over the last few months regarding the impracticality of these new reporting rules from these parties.
The superannuation changes from 1 July 2017 certainly had us on our toes and as if these changes weren’t enough, the ATO started to talk about ‘events based reporting’ as a means to keep track of individual’s superannuation balances.
We have now heard good news that the ATO has taken on board the many suggestions and criticisms its proposals received and eased up on the reporting requirements they wished to implement.
The ATO announced that its implementation of SMSF event based reporting will commence from 1 July 2018.
Events Based Reporting will be limited to those SMSFs with members with total superannuation account balances of $1 million or more. These SMSFs will be required to report Transfer Balance Cap events 28 days after the end of the quarter in which the event occurred.
SMSFs whose members’ total superannuation balances are less than $1 million can report Transfer Balance Cap events at the same time the SMSF lodges it’s tax return.
The ATO originally expected all SMSFs regardless of account balances to report Transfer Balance Cap events monthly!
The final proposal will save SMSF’s excessive administrative costs.
SMSFs solely in accumulation phase are not affected by Events Based Reporting as it only relates to transfer balance cap events.
If you are one of our valued clients likely to be affected by the above reporting changes, you will hear from us closer to 1 July 2018 to help you transition to the new reporting rules.
If you would like to know more information please Contact Us
