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In a relatively short period of time, COVID-19 has changed many things – from the way we interact with each other to the way we do business. Whilst year end tax planning is always an important focus, a number of COVID-19 induced factors means that your year end tax planning for this financial year will […]

The ATO has denied any systemic issues around the processing of the cash-flow boost measure, noting that it only continues to interrogate claims in a “very small number of cases”. It is now understood that a recalibration of the ATO’s dataset over the past weekend should ensure the cash-flow boost payments are processed more smoothly, […]

A significant number of JobKeeper enrolment forms have been found to contain errors, slashing the cost of the program by almost half. An ATO review of the 910,055 businesses who have self-assessed as eligible under the JobKeeper scheme found that around 1000 made “significant errors” when reporting their estimates of eligible employees. “The most common […]

Business Owners have been advised to keep contemporaneous documentation of their calculations and advice around the JobKeeper payment scheme to avoid inevitable audit scrutiny in the near future. While the ATO has declared that it will take an “understanding and sympathetic” compliance approach when reviewing JobKeeper turnover projections, Business Owners have now been urged to […]

  Question I have a client who cannot afford to top up staff to the $1,500 JobKeeper level. But, there appears to be a one in all in rule. Is that right? Answer The Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Rules 2020 do not appear to have this specific requirement. However, the explanatory statement […]

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has now revealed that the ATO has now approved 456,000 applications for the early release of super measure, which allows impacted Australians to access $10,000 by the end of June, and a further $10,000 in the third quarter of this year. Mr Frydenberg said the average withdrawal hovered around $8,000 and totalled $3.8 […]

  Revealed by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Friday night, the government will now provide an alternate decline in turnover test for the eligibility of special purpose service entities that provide employee labour to group members and that have not met the basic test for decline in turnover. According to Mr Frydenberg, the change will address […]

  The Stimulus Package: What You Need To Know The Government has announced a $17.6 billion investment package to support the economy as we brace for the impact of the coronavirus. The yet to be legislated four part package focuses on business investment, sustaining employers and driving cash into the economy. Please be careful, as […]

  We’ve all heard of the Coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China. But have you thought about how to protect your business if you need to comply with self-quarantine advice? If any member of your team is forced to self-quarantine and to work remotely, will your IT systems, processes and infrastructure cope? Now is the […]

The ATO’s pursuit of policy details from insurers is a “tried and tested way” of catching wealthy tax cheats, but its wide net could mean ordinary taxpayers get caught too, warns an accounting network. The Tax Office has recently announced it would request to receive a further five years’ worth of policy information from over […]