Employers that have fallen behind with their superannuation guarantee (SG) obligations will have 12 months to “self-correct” under a new amnesty announced late last month. The ATO estimates that $2.85 billion is currently owed in late or missing SG payments. Running from 24 May 2018 for 12 months, the amnesty encourages employers to reduce this SG gap by providing relief from the punitive penalties that normally apply to late payments. Even if you do not believe that your bus

Donate - If you are going to donate to charity, now is the time. Any donations you make to deductible gift recipients can be deducted this year. Remember, if you received something in return for the money, like goods purchased at a charity auction, you may not be able to claim a deduction for the full payment. There are special rules dealing with this situation that need to be taken into account. Work related deductions – you can claim a deduction for business expenses you ha

Individuals Personal tax bracket changes - The top threshold of the 32.5% personal income tax bracket will increase from $87,000 to $90,000*. Introduction of the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset* providing a tax offset for those with taxable income of up to $125,333. GST on property developments and residential subdivisions – The way GST is collected on sales of newly constructed residential properties or new subdivisions will change from 1 July. Purchasers will be required t

Dividends are paid out of profits which have already been subject to Australian company tax which is currently 30% (or 27.5% for small business at time of writing). This means that shareholders receive a rebate for the tax paid by the company on profits distributed as dividends. These dividends are described as being 'franked'. Franked dividends have a franking credit attached to them which represents the amount of tax the company has already paid. Franking credits are also k

Shares and capital gains The ATO is datamatching share transaction data against gains declared by individuals in their tax return. The datamatching program has been around since 2006 and tracks share transaction details from 1985 onwards (when the capital gains tax regime commenced). The current program is collecting information on over 61 million transactions. If you have sold shares, it’s important that the income from the sale is declared in your income tax return. Work re