The Tax Office has earmarked home office expenses as a key focus area this tax time, citing a lack of education contributing to a high amount of mistakes, errors, and questionable claims. According to the ATO a record $7.9 billion in deductions for ‘other work-related expenses’ were claimed by 6.7 million taxpayers last year, with the Tax Office noticing a rise in expenses related to working from home. With increasing numbers of employees working from home, extra costs related to home office could be deductible, but the

The ATO has recently revised its guidance on how fringe benefits tax (“FBT”) applies in relation to the private usage of work vehicles. Previously the ATO issued a definitive list of eligible work-use vehicles (typically tradie, dual cab and panel vans etc), but from 1 April 2017 this list has been withdrawn and employers now have to self-assess. In the past this law has always been about minor, infrequent travel for work vehicles, but this new ATO guidance puts the onus very much on the employer to prove that work cars are not used just as a perk to retain and attract staff. The ATO’s guidelines now suggest that a vehicle’s private use cannot exceed 1,000km in a year, and no return journey can exceed 200km. This is thought to be much more restrictive than previously understood. While home to work travel is generally not considered private for these work vehicles, according to these new guidelines, any trip in which a home to work route varies by more than 2km will be considered a personal trip. This new approach will potentially catch many employers unaware as they have in the past assumed that “work vehicles” (ie on the eligible vehicles list), means no FBT. Our advice to clients who provide these work vehicles to employees is to make sure you have a policy on work-related vehicles and make sure you can monitor how it is enforced.

From 1 July 2018, GST applies to sales of low value imported goods (valued at $1,000 or less) to consumers in Australia. This measure attempts to treat such imported goods in the same way as goods purchased domestically. Australian retailers need to be careful with this new law to ensure that they aren’t incorrectly charged GST by overseas suppliers. Overseas suppliers, if they have to register for GST, can get what is called a simplified GST registration. This means that they don't have to obtain an ABN and they can't claim input tax credits, but they don't have to issue a tax invoice to the Australian retail

For the information of clients we enclose this checklist which you may find helpful in planning your year-end tax strategies. Click here to read our end of financial year newsletter providing a Tax planning checklist.

The tax and superannuation highlights of Tuesday night’s Budget are summarised below:- Personal income tax measures Immediate tax relief for low and middle income earners The Low and Middle Income Tax Offset will provide a benefit of up to $200 for taxpayers with a taxable income of $37,000 or less. Between $37,000 and $48,000 the offset will increase at a rate of 3 cents per dollar to the maximum benefit of $530. From $90,001 to $125,333 the offset will phase out at the rate of 1.5 cents per dollar. Lifting tax brackets to protect taxpayers from ‘bracket creep’ and eliminating the 37% tax bracket. The following tables summarise the proposed tax bracket changes:

You may have read a lot in the media recently about the different tax policies and proposals coming out of the major Australian political parties. To help you understand these policies and potentially the tax changes that are coming, we thought you’d appreciate a summary and brief explanation of them to be better informed for the future. Click here to read our May 2018 newsletter discussing the key differing tax policies between the major political parties.

In this newsletter we discuss changes to NSW Stamp Duty on insurance policies, the 2017 R & D tax incentive deadline, deductions to oversees aid projects and new global reporting standards on the disclosure of foreign income. Click here view or download our April 2018 Newsletter.

In this newsletter we discuss the claiming of ‘other’ work-related expense deductions in taxation returns, and the 20k Immediate Asset Write Off which finishes on 30 June 2018. Click here view or download our March 2018 Newsletter.

Welcome to the special Land Tax edition of our client newsletter for 2018 where we hope to keep you informed of the important land tax compliance issues affecting owners of land in Australia. Click here view or download our February 2018 Land Tax Newslette

It is that time of year again and we thought a reminder on the tax consequences of Christmas celebrations and gifts would be timely. Income tax, FBT and GST are all relevant considerations where these costs are involved. Download the Newsletter

We hope to keep you informed of the important tax developments and issues affecting businesses in Australia today and throughout the year ahead. Click here to view our newsletter for November 2017. In this edition we touch on matters relating to superannuation.

As the 2017 financial year has just finished we would like to take this opportunity of thanking you for your business over the past 12 months. For those of you who are Employers we recommend reviewing the attached Newsletter to ensure you are aware of and have attended to all the necessary compliance matters affecting your business. One matter that is often easily overlooked is that of payroll tax registration. As an Employer you must register your business for payroll tax purposes when you pay annual wages of greater than $750,000. We encourage you to take this opportunity to review your payroll tax responsibilities. Please note that wages for the purposes of payroll tax include much more than just cash paid to staff. There are also payroll tax rebates and new employee grants available for businesses that register in time. Click Here to view our Year End Employer Obligations newsletter for 2017. Please contact your StewartBrown Partner or Manager if you are unsure about payroll tax or any other matter raised in this Newsletter.