small business

The ATO has warned that time is running out for small businesses to start paying their superannuation contributions via the new and mandatory electronic standard SuperStream. The October 28 deadline is only one week away, meaning small businesses (those with 19 or fewer employees) have just one super guarantee payment date left. Assistant commissioner Nicole

One of the issues that Tax & Super Australia finds frequently raised by members is the tax treatment of work related travel expenses, as well as the reliance on the “reasonable amounts” prescribed by the Commissioner. In our view, the current ATO guidance may not adequately cover the issues encountered by practitioners and taxpayers. Often,

If a business provides certain benefits to staff, or their associates, the business taxpayer may be up for fringe benefits tax (FBT). But there seems to remain ongoing misconceptions, or at worst misinformation, among many in business about the exemption or otherwise of certain benefits provided to employees. Generally, a condition of exemption is that

As a general guideline, the ATO will allow a deduction for insurance premiums if it can be shown that the insurance cover relates to earning assessable income.  Income protection insurance is one example of the kind of cover that may provide an allowable tax deduction for premiums – such claims have been allowed by the

Running a successful small business sometimes requires an upskilled team. If you need your employees to grow their expertise in a particular area, spotting them for short-courses can be a worthwhile endeavour. When providing staff these courses, Tax & Super Australia has observed the following questions for employers to consider from a tax viewpoint. Can

Business owners would be well advised to not get too creative if you’ve thought how handy it would be to absorb a business loss as a tax deduction for a future income year. The tax law has measures in place to ensure such deductions are limited to those businesses that are legitimately eligible — such

With the June 30 SuperStream adoption deadline upon us, the ATO has announced that any small business that has had trouble doing so will be given consideration. While around 450,000 small businesses have implemented the required changes, according to deputy commissioner James O’Halloran, he says it has become apparent that some small businesses may need

Data matching efforts to get a kick-along. The ATO has announced that it will acquire data from businesses that it visits as part of its employer obligations compliance program during the 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 financial years. The data it says will be collected includes: ABN of the payer business ABN of the payee business

When your ‘nearest neighbour’ turns out to be Big Brother. Although the transition to Standard Business Reporting (SBR) might be getting a lot of attention, there are several other strategic digitally-based analytics projects underway at the ATO. For example, its Smarter Data Program, which the ATO pre-empted through its document Blueprint for Change that was

A survey of the Australian business community has found that businesses are frustrated by the lack of tax reform. Tax and super issues that are most pressing After getting so close to genuine tax reform through the tax white paper process, many businesses feel cheated by its recent abandonment and are fearful the federal budget