The Federal Budget handed down on Tuesday evening of May 8 contained a lot of ‘give’ and also a lot of ‘take’, and depending on your circumstances these may not appear to have been exercised with equanimity.
While families may welcome an increase in Family Tax Benefits, this comes with further limitations in that age 18 will see benefits cease. Similarly, the bonus for school age children comes at the cost of the Education Tax Refund.
For businesses, we see a similar giving with one hand while taking with the other. The welcome ‘loss carry-back’ initiative will assist many smaller enterprises with their cash flows, but the loss of a 1% tax cut also has to be considered. And limiting the loss carry-back to incorporated companies (it’s not available to sole traders, partnerships or trusts) severely limits its benefits — the statistics tell us that only a third of all small businesses are structured as companies.
There are many other Budget initiatives that will have relevance to a wide variety of our clients, depending on your circumstances. As always, please feel free to talk to our office for further details and information.
2012-05 – MBS Monthly Update – Budget Edition.pdf
Should you require more information regarding any topic touched upon in this newsletter, please feel free to contact MBS to discuss the details.
Disclaimer & Copyright: All information provided in this newsletter is of a general nature only and is not personal financial or investment advice. Also, changes in legislation may occur frequently. We recommend that our formal advice be obtained before acting on the basis of this information. The Copyright is owned exclusively by Taxpayers Australia Inc (ABN 96 075 950 284)
Paying off the home mortgage sooner is an understandable aspiration, but the Tax Office warns that ‘mortgage management’ or ‘split loan’ arrangements are likely to be considered tax avoidance schemes as their dominant purpose is to claim tax deductions that would not otherwise be available.
Although the best tax planning is undertaken in July, not with the end of the financial year on the horizon, we look at a few tax planning tactics that could not only help with your tax return this year, but can set your affairs in better order for next tax year.
In a similar vein, we also run through what are commonly assumed to be allowable tax deductions that are actually routinely disallowed by the Tax Office. In next month’s issue, we will look at specific end-of-year strategies for small business owners.
Did you know that your SMSF can claim tax deductions for some insurance premiums? We also take a quick look at some quirky FBT facts, and summarise important developments or announcements made over the month.
Next week will see the 2012-13 Federal Budget handed down, widely expected to fundamentally change the taxation landscape. We will be issuing a special report summarising all the changes as soon as is practical after Budget night on Tuesday, May 8.
2012-05 – MBS Monthly Update.pdf
Should you require more information regarding any topic touched upon in this newsletter, please feel free to contact MBS to discuss the details.
Disclaimer & Copyright: All information provided in this newsletter is of a general nature only and is not personal financial or investment advice. Also, changes in legislation may occur frequently. We recommend that our formal advice be obtained before acting on the basis of this information. The Copyright is owned exclusively by Taxpayers Australia Inc (ABN 96 075 950 284)
Protecting your interests with regard to asset ownership has been given a legislative boost by way of the new Personal Property Securities register, which replaces more than 70 different state acts and registers. We run through what you need to know.
With the carbon tax fast approaching, we ask (and answer) the question; Is your business ready? We also warn about some common pitfalls for SMSFs, and look at where hobby farms stand with regard to tax concessions.
We have also introduced a new section, Regulatory Round-up, which summarises important developments or announcements made over the month.
Should you require more information regarding any topic touched upon in this newsletter, please feel free to contact MBS to discuss the details.
2012-04 – MBS Monthly Update.pdf
Disclaimer & Copyright: All information provided in this newsletter is of a general nature only and is not personal financial or investment advice. Also, changes in legislation may occur frequently. We recommend that our formal advice be obtained before acting on the basis of this information. The Copyright is owned exclusively by Taxpayers Australia Inc (ABN 96 075 950 284)
If you have taken on some training or extra study to advance your career, there may be a case for claiming some of the expenses of doing so in your tax return. We spell out the common costs and expenses that the Tax Office allows under its work-related self-education definitions.
Legislation just through Parliament will see a means test applied to the private health insurance rebate, as well as an increase in the Medicare surcharge (imposed on ‘high-earning’ singles and families who have no private health cover).
Among other topics, we also look at the tax differences between contractors and employees, where tablet computer devices such as the iPad sit with regard to the FBT rules, and compare the pros and cons of corporate and individual trustee structures for SMSFs.
If you require more information regarding any of these topics, which are of necessity covered in brief terms in this newsletter, feel free to contact this office for more details.
We’re excited to be offering to our clients a regular tax & superannuation monthly update through a partnership with TaxPayers Australia. Articles each month build on information that is of interest to small businesses, sole traders, individuals and families.
At times the reading will be a touch technical and potentially not relevant to everyone, but that’s ok, as we want this to give you some broad awareness of various topics via summarising the general thrust of each topic. If any articles raise points you’d like to discuss further, feel free to give us a call, drop us an email or wait until we next come visit, where we’ll be happy to discuss the topics with you.
With respect to this months reading, among other matters, we look at claiming the Education tax offset and the use of SMSF’s and the introduction of other family members into your fund. We also outline the changing tax landscape for 2012 to find what is in store for you in the year ahead.
