Adams Accounting Blog

ATO myDeductions app for your smartphone

For those taxpayers who have difficulty keeping all their deductible receipts together, the ATO ‘myDeductions’ app may be the answer. Simply download the ATO app to your smart device and choose whether you'd like to use the tool as an individual, sole trader, or both. The app allows you to record work/business expenses, other tax deductions such as donations, vehicle trips and income (if you are a sole trader). It also allows you to upload photos of your invoices and receipts. At tax time you can simply email the file to your tax agent. Make sure you record your information on a single device throughout the year because you can only upload once per financial year. Back up your data regularly in case your device is broken, lost or stolen.

Can I claim a tax deduction for sponsorship?

As our local summer sports are starting to wind up and the winter sports start ramping up, local sporting clubs may approach your business during the year asking for sponsorship and/or donations. The question some of you may ask – is sponsorship and/or donations a tax deduction? Donations are not a tax deduction unless the sporting club is registered as a deductible gift recipient (DGR), and most sporting clubs cannot be a DGR. Sponsorship, however is tax deductible. Sponsorship is the financial or in-kind support of an activity. It is not advertising but it promotes a company in association with the club. ATO ID 2005/284 deals with deductions and expenses in relation to sponsorship. If a taxpayer provides sponsorship in the belief that the exposure from that sponsorship will benefit the business in the form of advertising and will generate future income then the expenditure should be deductible. This will be the case even if it turns out that the sponsorship didn’...

Claiming a tax deduction for super contributions

A new era of superannuation deduction commenced on the 1st of July 2017. People who work for a wage or are required to have superannuation contributed for them by an employer to a superannuation fund are now allowed to potentially claim a taxation deduction for contributions they make to a complying super fund from 1st July 2017 from their own after-tax funds. Example John Saver works for V/line and his employer contributed to his super fund over the 2017/18 financial year $ 6,650 John contributes from his own savings direct to his super fund $300 a week (after tax) $15,600 Total contributed for year is $22,250 The maximum that John can contribute to superannuation & get a tax deduction for is $25,000 for the 2017/18 year. Because John’s contributions are below the $25,000 limit ...

ACCOUNTANT WANTED

TAX & BUSINESS SERVICES ACCOUNTANT Adams Accounting is an accounting firm located in Maffra and offers a broad range of services to a large variety of clients. We have a position available in our team for a full-time and/or part-time accountant. To be successful in this role you need to have a tertiary qualification in accounting (or almost qualified) and be a self-starter with initiative to ask questions and solve problems. Key responsibilities: - Preparation of income tax returns and financial statements - Preparation of Business Activity Statements and Instalment Activity Statements - Liaise with the tax office on a range of matters - Assist clients with record keeping - Preparation of taxation advice, including researching topics as required Key skills - Strong communication, written and interpersonal - Ability to work within a team and autonomously - Time management - Ability to work under pressure and within deadlines - Excellent computer skills...

8 Reasons To Know Your Business Value

8 reasons you need to know the value of your business “I’m not planning on selling my business any time soon. So I don’t need to know what it is worth, right?” Wrong. If you value your business, you need to value your business. Every business owner should have an up-to-date business valuation — not just those preparing to sell. Do you: - own all or part of a business? - intend to someday retire, sell or leave your business? - think you might die one day, or become disabled? - have key employees or business partners who you’re trying to motivate to be more efficient, productive or profitable? - have creditors, predators, or soon-to-be ex-spouses who might someday want a piece of your business? If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you should consider getting your business valued. Here are eight reasons why you need to know what your business is worth: 1. Planning to grow – Provides the best benchmark to compare periodic growth 2. Sel...

CAPITAL GAINS TAX AND DECEASED ESTATE ASSETS

CAPITAL GAINS TAX AND DECEASED ESTATE ASSETS What happens with income tax when a person is deceased? When a person passes away their executors are required to lodge a final income tax return (ITR) up to the date of their death in order to finalise their income tax affairs (this ITR will not be able to be lodged until after the following 30th June). This ITR will include all taxable income and deductable expenses from the previous 1st July up until the date of death (DOD). From the DOD onwards a new taxpayer is recognised, being the Estate of the deceased. A new tax file number (TFN) is required for the Estate and the Estate will lodge an ITR taking into account all taxable income and deductable expenses from the first day after the DOD through to the following 30th June. Further ITR’s may be needed if the Estate continues on for further periods. Capital gain tax (CGT) and Estate assets. The first thing to be aware of is that the death of a taxpayer does not trigger ...

Increase to lost super threshold

The Superannuation (unclaimed money and lost members) Act 1999 was recently amended* so that, from 31 December 2015, the small lost threshold for super accounts is increasing from $2,000 to $4,000. Inactive and un-contactable superannuation accounts with a balance below this threshold (now $4,000) are required to be transferred by APRA-regulated funds to the ATO. This law applies to members of a fund that have reached age 65 and are uncontactable by the super fund. Super funds are expected to start preparing to identify, report, and transfer lost accounts below $4,000 as part of their Unclaimed Super Money (USM) Statement due on or prior to 30 April 2016. Message – make sure you know who your super $ are with & that the fund has your current address. Then look into your tax & financial situation to ascertain if you need to withdraw the funds or leave them in a fund. How do you find your lost super? If you think you may have lost track of your super then you hav...

Pay superannuation on time or loose deduction!

Did you know? As a business, if you do not pay your employee superannuation guarantee contributions by the quarterly cut-off date, you are not able to claim a tax deduction for the superannuation amount! Even just one day late means you are unable to claim a tax deduction! In addition, if superannuation is paid later than the cut-off date the employer needs to lodge a "Superannuation guarantee charge statement" for each late quarter. This includes the original SGC, an admin fee of $20 per employee per quarter plus 10% interest on the total from the first day of the quarter. To avoid all of this, and in order to claim a full tax deduction for the payments, super must be paid and received by the superannuation fund by the quarterly cut-off dates below: Quarter Period Payment cut-off date 1 1 July – 30 September 28 October 2 1 October – 31 December 28 January 3 1 January – 31 March 28 April 4 1 April – 30 June 28 ...

Cheap loans for farm energy efficiency

NAB is offering a 0.70 per cent cut on financing for farmers and related agri businesses looking to improve energy efficiency. NAB has advised Adams Accounting that as well as irrigation systems, the bonus also applies to qualifying equipment such as some light vehicles, variable speed drives, industrial/commercial refrigeration, heating ventilation and air-conditioning, solar & solar thermal, biogas, waste diversion, process equipment upgrades, building monitoring systems, voltage optimisation assets, lighting, bundled technologies etc. The following article is from The Land news Written by ANDREW MARSHALL on 11 June, 2015 “DISCOUNT borrowing costs are being promoted by National Australia Bank (NAB) for farmers and related agribusinesses looking to improve energy efficiency or invest in renewable options such as solar, biogas or wind power. NAB has teamed up with the government-backed Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) in a $120 million funding program which allow...

Murray Goulburn Share Restructure Progress

Murray Goulburn Share Restructure Progress What’s happened so far? On the 29th May 2015 MG announced its Initial Public Offer (IPO) price range which is $2.10 to $3.20 per unit in the MG Unit Trust. MG will announce its final IPO price in late June and it will be somewhere in the range indicated above. Under the existing share structure all shares are valued at $1. The restructure is based around two principals 1/ The companies shareholders that can vote remain in the dairy farmers hands. 2/ The remaining shareholders are entitled to the same rights as dairy farmer shareholders except they cannot vote. Dairy farmer shareholders are able to sell shares in the company but this is in a staged process over three years after the float. What might happen to the share price in the future? This is the 69 dollar question. Public company share prices live or die based on the meeting of financial targets. If in the first six to twelve months the company achieves it profit...