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.

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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.

• 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 :)

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC) is warning Australians to steer clear of tax scams, after more than $1 million has been reported lost to their "Scamwatch" already in 2016, with over 300 people reporting they lost money to tax scams in the first half of 2016.

According to the ACCC, these scams often use personal information found online and ask for payment for "unpaid debts".

Scam phone calls often look like they come from local phone numbers but most use voice over internet protocol (VOIP) phone numbers to disguise the fact that they are calling from overseas.

While it does make outbound calls to taxpayers, the ATO said that it would never "cold call" taxpayers about unpaid debts, would never threaten jail or arrest or behave in an aggressive manner. Further, while it does send taxpayer emails, SMS messages or official social media updates about new services from time-to-time, the ATO will never request personal or financial information by SMS or email. If personal details were required, the recipient would be redirected to ATO online services.

To check whether an email or a call is genuine, call the ATO on its official contact number, 1800 008 540. Suspected ATO email scams can be reported by forwarding the original email to ReportEmailFraud@ato.gov.au. Scams can also be reported to the ACCC via the Scamwatch report a scam page or by calling 1300 795 995.

As an employer, you must give each of your employees a payment summary at the end of the financial year. The payment summary must show the payments you have made to them and the amounts you withheld from those payments. Payment summaries should be provided to your employees by no later than 14 July.

It is important that you provide payment summaries to all your employees, even if you were not required to withhold any tax. You are still required to include these payments in your payment summary annual report that you send to us.

​If you would like assistance with preparing your Employee Payment Summaries make sure you contact us now.

If you run a small business that has 19 or fewer employees, you have until 30 June 2016 to start using SuperStream.

With SuperStream you will only need to make one electronic transaction to cover all your employees' super contributions. It's easier and will save you time.

The ATO is running free webinars to help you learn about SuperStream and understand your options. To ensure all employers have an opportunity to attend one of these webinars, the ATO is scheduling more, including on weekends. The ATO will continue to schedule extra webinars as they book out.

Find out more by using the SuperStream employer step by step checklist.

You may think that your workers are contractors because they invoice you – but this is a myth.

​Receiving an invoice from a worker is not a deciding factor on whether they’re an employee or contractor. You need to consider the whole working arrangement so that you are clear on your tax and super responsibilities for them.

So how do you get it right with your workers?

• Employee/contractor decision tool 

Use the ATO's Employee/contractor decision tool to get a quick and reliable answer. The tool will tell you if your worker is an employee or contractor for tax and super purposes and what this means for your business.

• Webinar

Register for the ATO's free Employee or contractor webinar to help you understand your obligations in more detail – the sessions are interactive if you have questions you’d like to ask.

Find out about:
Employee or contractor

Don't forget that new rules will soon apply to sales of taxable Australian real property with a market value of $2 million or more.

A 10% non-final withholding tax will be incurred for all contracts entered into on or after 1 July 2016, unless a clearance certificate or variation certificate is obtained.

If you are selling real property with a market value of $2 million or more and you are:

• an Australian resident vendor, you can avoid the 10% withholding by providing a clearance certificate to the purchaser prior to settlement
• a foreign resident vendor, you may apply for a variation of the withholding.

Please contact us if you feel you may be needing assistance with this matter. ​

The ATO is reminding the public to be alert to scammers impersonating the ATO demanding iTunes gift cards as a form of tax debt payment.

Assistant Commissioner Janine Clark said that based on recent reports made to the ATO, iTunes gift cards were part of new tactic being used by fraudsters.

"In April 2016, of the 8692 phone scam reports we received were in relation to the fake ATO tax debt scam; 58 reports mentioned the scammer demanding payment by iTunes and 26 people unfortunately payed $174,830 to fraudsters," Ms Clark said.

​For further details please click here.