RA Business Advisors

ATO

Non-Compliant Payments: How Are They Changing in 2019?

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When you are paying your employees, there are certain parties you need to withhold amounts from and instead send this to the ATO. This is to ensure these parties don’t have to pay larger amounts of unnecessary tax at the end of the year. We’ve put together a handy guide to make sure you don’t get caught out heading into the end of the financial year.  

From July 1, 2019 you can only claim deductions for payments made to your workers where you have met the PAYG withholding obligations for that payment.  

If the PAYG withholding rules require you to withhold an amount from a payment you make to a worker, you must: 

  • Withhold the amount from the payment before you pay it 
  • Report the amount the ATO 

Any payments you make where you haven’t withheld or reported the PAYG tax are non-compliant payments. You won’t be able to claim a deduction if you don’t withhold any PAYG tax or report the PAYG tax.  

You can only claim a deduction for the following payments if you comply with the PAYG withholding rules: 

  • Salary, wages, commissions, bonuses or allowances to an employee  
  • Directors’ fees 
  • To a religious practitioner  
  • Under a labour hire arrangement 
  • For a supply of services where the contractor has not provided you with their ABN 

These are all well and good, but what if you are providing something which is not cash, goods and services for example. If this is the case, you will still have to report the PAYG tax in order for this to be classified as a compliant payment and allow you to claim a deduction.  

It’s important that you ensure you are complying with PAYG withholding and reporting obligations for a payment. If you don’t, you face losing your deduction for that payment or existing penalties that apply, which can be a hefty fine. 

If you do make a mistake, you don’t need to start hyperventilating, instead you should lodge a voluntary disclosure form and correct your mistake as soon as possible. However, if you should have withheld PAYG tax and didn’t, you do stand to lose your deduction for that payment.  

As always, you can get in contact with us if you have any worries about your PAYG activity.

 

ATO Waving Penalties For Unpaid Superannuation Payments

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The ATO will be waiving penalties for the hundreds of businesses who have admitted failures to pay superannuation to their staff after a ‘botched’ amnesty.

An amnesty was rolled out in May of 2018, which offered employers who failed to pay super entitlements stretching back to the 1990s a “clean slate.” Unpaid super is estimated as being worth up to a whopping $6 billion a year in Australia, with the government hoping this initiative would encourage employers to pay their workers super entitlements. 

While the policy has been dumped, the amnesty for employers will still run for 12 months. Anyone failing to use this amnesty as a time to declare their past wrongdoings is warned they will face penalties in the future to the sum of half the money owed, on top of the unpaid super. 

Employers who have already made claims to the ATO are being treated as though they had voluntarily reported themselves under current rules. This means they must repay unpaid super as well as interest to the employee and an administration fee per employee of $20 per quarter. 

To be eligible for the superannuation amnesty, businesses will need to:

  • Not be subject to an audit of your Superannuation Guarantee (SG) for the relevant periods 
  • Voluntarily disclosed amounts of SG shortfall or late payments that have not been previously disclosed for any period from 1 July 1992 to 31 March 2018 
  • Made the voluntary within the proposed 12-month amnesty period (24 May 2018 to 23 May 2019) 

If you are unsure whether you are meeting your superannuation requirements effectively, give us a ring on 07 3367 0852 or email us at mail@raaccountants.com.au 

Staying Safe At Tax Time Begins Now!

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As the year comes to a close and the financial year moves forward at full-steam, it’s important to be on top of your tax time practices now to prevent heartbreak later.   

The ATO have profiled the five most common mistakes Australians are making during the end of the financial year period:  

  • Leaving out some of their income (for example, money earned from cryptocurrency etc.) 
  • Claiming deductions for personal expenses (for example, between work travel, personal phone calls etc.) 
  • Forgetting to keep receipts or records of their expenses (around half of the adjustments the ATO makes are because the taxpayer had no records, or they were poor quality) 
  • Claiming for something they never paid for 
  • Claiming personal expenses for rental properties (either claiming deductions for times when they are using their property themselves, or claiming interest on loans used to buy personal assets like a car or boat) 

If you are worried about what you can claim for work-related personal expenses, just remember these three golden rules:  

  • You must have spent the money yourself and not have been reimbursed 
  • It must be directly related to earning your income 
  • You must have a record to prove it 

With ATO efforts to crack-down on tax time cheats increasing, it’s more important than ever to ensure you don’t get caught off-guard when June 30 comes around. 

If you are worried about any of these, don’t hesitate to get in contact with us! Especially if you are worried about ensuring you are on top of your receipts over the year. Through utilising apps such as ReceiptBank with Xero you can streamline your business and won’t have to worry about storing receipts ever again!  

 

How To Stay Safe Against The ATO Crackdown On Declared Income

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Warning Time

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is closing in fast on everyone who doesn’t properly declare their income and pay the correct amount of tax.

As your Tax Accountants, we want to help you be aware of what the ATO is doing and how you can protect yourself.

How Does The ATO Know?

The ATO is linking databases of property sales, car purchases, international plane flights, dividends paid from shares, and sales of shares and investments with the income declared on your Tax Return.

If your Tax Return income doesn’t match with your spending or repayment of loans, then the ATO will probably “red flag” you for a tax audit.

These databases have not been linked before like this, so we’re expecting to see a huge increase in the number of tax audits over the next 12 months.

Business Cash Receipts Not Declared

Many small business owners pocket some of their cash takings each week and don’t declare this in their Tax Returns.

The ATO now has the tools to catch this out

When your business Tax Return is lodged, the ATO compares your profit and other key indicators as a % of your total sales with other businesses in your industry. If your profit % is lower than average, then the ATO may decide to do a tax audit just to see if you’re properly declaring all the income you actually receive, or if the expenses you’ve claimed are actually allowable as tax deductions.

Also, not declaring cash income from your business could result in you getting a much smaller price for the sale of your business. We’ll discuss this in a future article.

What Are We Doing To Help You?

We have 2 keys roles as your tax accountants.

  1. Ensure you pay least amount of tax you legally should.
  2. Assist you to lodge a correct tax return, so if you’re audited by the ATO you can sleep peacefully at night knowing that you’ve done the right thing.

While we don’t like paying tax just like you don’t like paying tax – at the end of the day it simply is a normal part of life and there’s nothing we can do about it except for obeying the laws and lodging a true and correct Tax Return.

If you don’t declare all income you receive and if you claim as expenses things that aren’t properly allowable tax deductions – then if you’re audited and lose you will have to pay back tax PLUS pay large penalties to the ATO.

Is this really worth it?

We’re On Your Side. Talk To Us Today!

Let’s talk frankly. If you’ve been naughty in the past, talk to our expert accounting team about it. There are option we can advise you on to help you and reduce possible fines and penalties.

It’s better for us to help you declare past sins before the ATO finds out and starts their attack on you.

We’ll help you fight the ATO if the occasion is needed. But you need to do the right thing – even if you disagree with the tax laws.

Please – don’t doubt our resolve to help you.

Contact your expert team at RA Business Advisors today on 07  or by email at mail@raaccountants.com.au

We’re your good friends. And we’re here to help you!

Single-Touch Payroll: How Is It Going To Change Things For You?

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While the name may suggest some weird form of physical payroll, single-touch payroll (STP) is a new initiative from the ATO which came into effect at the start of this financial year. STP is currently applicable for employers with 20 or more employees. However, STP will also be used for employers with fewer than 20 employees from the start of next financial year.

single-touch payroll

 

What is single-touch payroll?

STP enables employers to report salary or wages, PAYG withholding and super information directly to the ATO at the same time they pay their employees. STP will send a copy of these to the ATO automatically when these are sent to the employee. The system is designed to make reporting easier for employers, as well as addressing the unpaid superannuation crisis.

How do I report through STP?

Reporting is easy as the process of STP is automatic, once your reporting software is STP-enabled. Before lodging your first report, make sure you authorise people to lodge reports on behalf of your business. As well as checking if you are in need of an AUSkey, this identifies you as the representative for your business when using online government services.

There are some payments which cannot be reported through STP, these include:

  • payments that are generally not paid through a payroll process;
  • payments made by payers to recipients that are generally not their employees

Are there any issues that could arise from STP?

As long as you are up-to-date on your super payments there is no need to worry. However, for smaller businesses that don’t pay super on time due to limited cash flow, consider breaking down these payments to be more regular to meet your obligations under STP. If you’ve missed superannuation payments in the past, there is an amnesty period until May 2019 to rectify any past non-compliance without penalty. Grievances can be backdated as far as 1992, so make sure you are on top of your superannuation!

Are there any benefits for employees?

Peace of mind. Through establishing the STP system, the ATO will get a report every time an employee is paid and will be able to instantly verify the superannuation payments are up to date. Employees will also be able to complete Super Choice forms and TFN declaration forms through their myGov account.

Tick Tock, Time’s Almost Up

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EOFY is just around the corner, so business owners beware. If you haven’t gotten it done, there is still some time left! If you’re a start-up founder, then pay extra close attention as I guide you step by step into your first business EOFY.

Step 1. Get your ducks in a row

Getting your documents in order is absolutely crucial when that panic sticking EOFY rolls around. If you don’t know what your number looks like it’s hard to make a plan on what to do.  As we keep telling you, we are XERO experts and we believe in most circumstances that is the best place to get your business numbers sorted.  For a start-up, there may be more cost-effective options to get you going and we can guide you through that decision.

Step 2. Seek expert advice

Many problems arise when tax time comes around; the biggest one is lack of understanding. That’s why our taxperts (link) are well versed in all the laws regarding tax.  We provide both taxation and business advice to arm you with all the knowledge you need. Penalties apply if your business isn’t compliant with legislation, so avoid unnecessary fees by talking to one of our advisors today!

Step 3. Claiming is the game

Small businesses that purchase new assets under $20,000 are eligible for a tax write-off to the full value of those purchases. Traditionally, you’d have to wait potentially say five years to realise this return but thankfully this upfront deduction has been extended. One catch: the assets must be purchased prior to EOFY and businesses cannot write-off expenditure that they are trying to also claim through an R&D tax incentive.  Other deductions such as superannuation contributions (new rules this year) can also make a big difference to your tax bill.

Step 4. Be aware

Tax rule changes are as frequent as Christmas these days, no matter what they change every year. It’s critical that you stay up to date with these changes. Last year the tax rate for small companies dropped from 30% where it had been stuck for quite some time. This year the rate is 27.5% for businesses earning under $10 million and 30% for businesses earning more.

Step 5. Arm yourself

Before the technological age really took off, owning a small business was a living nightmare. Thankfully the ATO has kept up with the times by offering an endless supply of small business administration information. Or if you’re really a tech head, there’s an app for that. Check out the ATO website for information ranging from start-ups to large businesses.  There is also a huge array of clever apps on the market that can help streamline your business and free up your time for the more important things in life.

Beginners Guide to Surviving Tax Season

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1. Bookkeeping

Whether business or personal, everyone should be doing this in some capacity. Tracking your income and expenses makes tax preparation and filing so much easier for you and your accountant. To file your taxes, your accountant needs an up-to-date balance sheet (businesses), an income statement, and a record of capital-asset activities for the year (buying, or selling of assets).

2. Receipts and records

Record keeping is the number one priority anyone should have regarding expenses. It doesn’t matter if you keep your receipts organised in a shoebox or online, your accountant will thank you.

Protip: Reduce the clutter by choosing software that allows you to upload and store your receipts.

3. More than just receipts

Sometimes a receipt just isn’t enough. I know, it hurts to hear but it’s the truth! Providing fuel receipts for the use of your personal car won’t cut it. You need more information to back your deduction. The most effective way is to create a log. Track your km’s based on business vs. personal. The ATO won’t accept deductions for personal use, so make sure you make it clear how far you drove for business reasons.

Protip: Driving to and from work is NOT deductible

4. Deductions

Business expenses must be ordinary (accepted within your trade) and necessary. It’s also important to separate personal and business expenses, capital expenses, and any expenses related to the selling of goods (cost of goods sold).

5. Tax strategy

Tax-deductible business expenses are a great way for small businesses to reduce their tax liability. This is especially helpful for companies that are aggressively spending in order to expand. These reasons (and many more) are why tax strategies are so paramount for your business. This is why you need to choose a trustworthy and effective business advisor.

Whether you’re clambering to make your 2017 tax deadline or you’re just not sure what expenses you can deduct, you’ll need an accountant that understands your business and its year-long activities.

To speak to someone who will happily get to know you and your business, call RA Business Advisors on 07 3367 0852 and speak about your tax woes today!