Employers make sure you have supplied your workers payment summaries (previously known as Group Certificates) by 14 July 2017. 

Lodgement of these payment summaries to the Australian Tax Office is not due until 14 August 2017.

​Click here for further details about when payment summaries are required.

​WorkCover Queensland are supporting the Queensland Government’s plan to encourage business to hire more apprentices, by offering employers a discount on their premium if they employ apprentices.

In Uber B.V. v FC of T, the Federal Court has held that services provided by an Uber driver constituted a supply of "taxi travel" for GST purposes. Accordingly, the driver was required to be registered for GST.

The ATO have advised that ride-sourcing enterprises should:

• keep records
• have an ABN register for GST, regardless of how much they earn
• pay GST on the full fare received from passengers for each trip they provide
• lodge activity statements include income from ride-sourcing in their income tax returns.

​
Drivers are also entitled to claim income tax deductions and GST credits on expenses apportioned to the ride-sourcing services they have supplied. Further information on the case is included in the GST section below.

The holiday season could mean a busy time for your business and you may need an extra set of hands to see you in to the new year. Whether this means hiring someone for a few days or a couple of weeks, you’ll need to work out if they’re employees or contractors to get their tax and super right.

The fact is both employees and contractors can be hired for:

• casual, temporary, on call and infrequent work
• busy periods
• short jobs, specific tasks and projects.

How do you work it out?

Use [the ATO's] Employee/contractor decision tool to get a quick and reliable answer. Based on your answers to some simple questions, the tool will give you certainty about whether your short-term workers are employees or contractors and what this means for your business.

[The ATO has] listened to the concerns of small businesses, tax professionals, industry associations and software providers, and are working towards reducing GST compliance costs for small businesses.

[The ATO] are reducing the amount of GST information required for the business activity statement (BAS) to simplify GST bookkeeping and reporting requirements.

A simpler BAS will give small businesses significant time and cost savings by simplifying account set up, GST bookkeeping and BAS preparation. Businesses will be able to more easily classify transactions and prepare and lodge their BAS.

From 1 July 2017, small businesses will only need to report the following GST information on their BAS:

• GST on sales (1A)
• GST on purchases (1B)
• Total sales (G1)

The requirement to report Export sales (G2), other GST free sales (G3), Capital purchases (G10) and Non-capital purchases (G11) will be removed.

A simpler BAS will support greater use of existing automation functions and potential digital solutions as they evolve.

For more information and to watch the ATO's 'Simpler BAS' video click here.

Money you earn from renting out a room in your house is rental income. This applies to rooms rented by traditional means or through a sharing economy website or app [e.g. AirBNB].

You can only claim expenses related to the part of the house you rent out and you need to apportion the expenses accordingly. However, you can claim 100% of any fees or commissions charged by the rental facilitator or administrator.

The ATO has examples to help you understand how claiming deductions works when renting rooms, or your main residence on an occasional basis.

Capital gains tax may also apply if they sell property used to generate rental income.

For further details click here.

• You need to be paying and reporting super electronically using the new SuperStream format by 28 October 2016.

If you're currently using cheque or direct deposit, you need to make the switch now.

Even if you're already paying by EFT or BPAY directly to super funds, you may still need to make some changes to your reporting to get across the line.

Get help with our SuperStream webinar - sign up today!

We're running free webinars designed to help you understand SuperStream and the steps you need to take to implement SuperStream.

Next webinars:

• Wednesday 5 October 2016 10:00am AEST
• Saturday 22 October 2016 11:00am AEST.

Small Business Superannuation Clearing House
A free service that distributes super contributions to employees’ nominated funds in one transaction. You will meet SuperStream standards when you use the clearing house service.

Find out about:

• SuperStream employer checklist
• Using the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House

Register for Xero Auto Super if your subscription is Business Standard or higher

Using Xero Auto Super 

Send us an email or give us a call to discuss setting this up - we are always here to assist :)

"We've become aware of scam email designed to mislead our customers into making a payment. The email is titled 'Request for ASIC correspondence reprint' and states that the customer has requested an invoice reprint. The email also contains a link to download the invoice.

The invoice has not been issued by ASIC. If you receive this fraudulent email, please delete it."

​For further details click here.