Reminder – Do you have business tax debts?
As reported in our February 2017 newsletter, from 1 July the ATO will be able to disclose business tax debts to the credit reporting bureaus. They will only be allowed to report tax debts where the taxpayer has an ABN, has a tax debt of more than $10,000 that is overdue by more than 90 days, and the taxpayer hasn’t … Read More
Look before you leap – Super changes from 1 July 2017
As we’re about to welcome in the 2017/18 financial year and many of the new super reforms, here is summary of what lies ahead: Notify your employer to reduce salary sacrifice amounts to stay within the $25,000 cap for everyone this is even more important if you are contributing to more than one fund and/or your employer is paying your … Read More
Simpler Business Activity Statements (BAS)
The ATO have been advising clients via email of their ability to transition to the simpler BAS lodgement method from 1 July 2017. This new method is only available for small business (turnover <$10M) and reduces the information required to be reported with respect to GST on a BAS to three amounts – GST on sales, GST on purchases and Total sales.
Furthermore, classification of transactions using Simpler BAS will only need to be classified as GST and no GST. If you use accounting software, Reckon accounts is already setup to be compliant with the new requirements, MYOB and Xero are still working on the upgrades. Regardless of your software, you still will be able to get some of the benefits from Simpler BAS by having the reduced reporting requirement upon lodgement of the BAS.
Trust beneficiaries – Financial details reporting requirements from 1 July 2017
Effective from 1 July 2017 the new Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) will apply and many Australian trusts may need to report financial details of their beneficiaries to the ATO. CRS is a global financial information collection, reporting and exchange for foreign tax residents. The information collected will be shared with participating overseas countries (i.e. U.S and U.K). The aim here is to ensure Australian resident financial accounts can be verified with the overseas countries and therefore help to avoid tax evasion. First reporting will be due to the ATO on 31 July 2018 and the financial data will be exchanged with the participating countries on 30 September 2018.
In summary the implications of CRS on your trust are:
- On request by the ATO your trust will be required to provide financial details of the beneficiaries;
- The reporting obligation could be imposed on the trust or the trustees of the trust;
- Not only will the financial details of the beneficiaries go to the ATO, but it will also be shared with other participating countries;
- There is no minimum size or threshold for reporting;
- If the trust or trustee(s) fails to comply there will be penalties imposed by the ATO.
Should you have any questions or would like to know more please do not hesitate to contact us.
Our Client Portal – Safer, quicker and greener
We have introduced our client portal and a lot of our clients have been successfully receiving and approving their documents.
Our client portal enables us to publish your documents via a secure online platform where you can review and electronically sign off all your compliance documents.
By utilising our client portal we can reduce the risk of your private information ending up in the wrong hands. Registration on the client portal involves a few easy steps to identify yourself, confirm your email address and set your own password.
The portal;
- Enables us to provide you with secure online documents in a timely fashion;
- Enables our clients to access their documents on most device platforms anywhere they can get online;
- Enables our clients to upload documents to us over the secure portal;
- Helps us be a little greener by reducing the amount of printing and paper consumption.
The system will notify you by email when a document has been published and is ready to be reviewed.
If you want to know anymore about our portal don’t hesitate to contact Jodee Hughes of this office
Kreston Stanley Williamson Team
*Correct as of August 2017
*Disclaimer – this article has been produced by Kreston Stanley Williamson as a service to its clients and associates. The information contained in the article is of general comment only and is not intended to be advice on any particular matter. Before acting on any areas contained in this article, it is imperative you seek specific advice relating to your particular circumstances. Liability limited by a scheme approved under professional standards legislation.
