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   Our contact details are still the same:
Phone : 07 3333 2510 Fax : 07 3333 2501 Email : info@cotteraccountancy.com.au Our new premises is located: HUB23 Unit 6 23 Technology Drive AUGUSTINE HEIGHTS Q 4300 Hope to see you soon!  If you have workers, don't forget that their super guarantee contributions for the last quarter is due 28 January 2018. If you have not already done so, you need to pay a minimum of 9.5% of each eligible employee’s ordinary time earnings (gross wages) in super to a complying fund by the due date. Unlike other payment types you may make in business, super contributions are only counted as paid when the super fund receives them. That’s why it’s best to make any payments well before 28 January to ensure they reach the super fund on time. Employers who fail to pay the minimum superannuation guarantee contributions by this date must pay the superannuation guarantee charge (SGC) and lodge a Superannuation guarantee charge statement - quarterly by 28 February 2018. SGC is not tax deductible. If you're a business with 19 or fewer employees, or have an aggregated turnover of less than $10 million, you can use the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House to save time and avoid the super guarantee charge. It’s fast and easy to use because you pay all of your super contributions in one transaction and the clearing house will distribute your payment to the various super funds on your behalf. Start saving time by using the clearing house this quarter. For further details please click here.  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:
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:
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. Our CommentsYou need to make sure you answer this tool honestly. If the tool results indicate that they are in fact an employee then make sure you have provided them the relevant employee forms/documents (including the Super Choice form).
The Fairwork website provides a great "A guide to hiring new employees" the link for the PDF is here. It doesn't specifically mention the Super Choice form but this is very important that its filled out correctly before you provide this to your new employee. The link to the ATO website for Employers does not work so these are the relevant up to date links from the ATO:
If you you would like assistance please give us a call and we are happy to assist you.  [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:
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. Our CommentsAlthough there are fewer areas to report on for your BASes it is still necessary to keep complete records for income tax purposes and to capture the required GST figures.
Interestingly the BAS figures will no longer be used for benchmarking purposes which is good news given that they were never an accurate representation of the businesses trading.  On 1 January 2017, there will be changes to the assets test that Centrelink uses to calculate pensions. The rebalance of the assets test may affect your payments.
Payments affected by these changes These changes may affect you if you get:
Click here for further details and to be taken to the Centrelink website.  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.  Its not until you are ripping your hair out and you have completely lost all hope do we find out that its possibily something we can fix.
If you are doing something in your accounting system that feels mundain or repetative or just plain painful - let us know the issue and we might have a remedy to save your sanity. Happy hump day :) |
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