If you’re one of the 2.4m Australians who has taken advantage of COVID-19 early super release, beware as the ATO is investigating fraud and schemes related to this measure. In announcing the significant investigation, the ATO has also given notice of a data-matching program to acquire data from Services Australia (Centrelink) which is projected to collect information from approximately 3m individuals. The data-matching program is expected to identify those applying for early release when they did not meet the criteria under the COVID-19 early release condition.

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With many Australian businesses taking part in the government’s COVID-19 stimulus package including the JobKeeper and the cash flow boost, the ATO has now commenced a compliance program to weed out those that are exploiting the stimulus; in order to level the playing field for the majority of businesses that are doing the right thing. The ATO has noted that it will not tolerate illegal behaviour or development of schemes that are designed to deliberately exploit COVID-19 stimulus measures or seek to avoid tax.

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Amendments made last year changed the rules as to when complying super funds including SMSFs will derive non-arm’s length income (NALI). Due to ATO concerns that this change has not been explicitly communicated, a guideline has recently released which provides a transitional compliance approach for complying super funds in relation to certain non-arm’s length expenditure in gaining or producing ordinary or statutory income.

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Tax time 2020 will be anything but routine, with the great disruptor that is the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated government economic stimulus, there are some key matters for individuals to be aware of this year. These include the tax treatment of early access super, the use of the simplified method to claim work from home expenses, payments related to being stood down ...

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Businesses that received the initial cash flow boosts as a part of the COVID-19 stimulus measures are in line for additional payments for the June to September quarter. Generally, the additional amount businesses will receive will be equal to the total amount that they initially received and will be split evenly between the lodged activity statements. However, if you’ve made adjustments

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During retirement, we may draw upon one or more sources of income to fund our retirement years.These sources can be retirement savings (super and non-super), potential social security entitlements, and income from work. In terms of drawing upon income from work, this appears to be increasingly more prevalent. For example, when looking at the long-term data* on the workforce participation rate for Australians aged 65 and older.

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In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic the ATO have acknowledged that taxpayer’s ability to claim deductions will be completely different to any other year.
This presents our clients with the ability to claim increased deductions for items such as working from home expenses, however it also provides the ATO with the opportunity to conduct more detailed data matching and the ATO has advised that the 2020 tax year will see an increase in audit activity for work related deductions.

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While the due date for SMSF annual returns depends on the particular fund, if you had an SMSF at 30 June 2019 or has wound up an SMSF during the last financial year, you will need to lodge a return. To assist taxpayers with completing the return, the ATO has released a list of the most common mistakes to avoid, including lodging a return without auditor details...

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If your business is in relatively good shape and have been contemplating an asset purchase, now is the time. Not only will you be helping the Australian economy get back on its feet, you’ll be doing your business a favour by taking advantage of the instant asset write-off threshold of $150,000. Which is the highest it has ever been or will likely to be for a while.

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