Frequently Asked Questions
Investing in an accountant will save you money and time. An accountant will give you specialised business and financial advice, forecast cash flow and provide up-to-date information on financial enquiries.
We can give you the advice to help start a business and run it with confidence. With our in-depth knowledge and commercial insight, we can help you make the important decisions from launch.
STP is a new, simpler way to report your employees’ payroll information to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and keep your business compliant.
Single Touch Payroll will required for all employers by 1st July 2019, which is for Small business Employers with less than 19Employees
With STP, employers no longer need to complete payments summaries and group certificates at the end of the financial year.
That’s now taken care of every time you pay the employees as their tax and super information is sent to the ATO and available to them through myGov.
As your run your regular payroll, your tax and super details are sent from your accounting software to the ATO automatically.
• Pay your employees as normal (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) and give them a payslip.
• Your STP-enabled payroll software sends a report directly to the ATO which includes required information such as salaries and wages, PAYG withholding and super
• Find the below mentioned ATO link for Single Touch Payroll checklist you need but if you need more information.
https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Single-Touch-Payroll/
Or contact us for assistance
The due date varies among individuals and businesses. To find out when your return is due, please email us or contact our office.
A trust imposes an obligation on a person or entity to hold property for the benefit of beneficiaries. For the purposes of tax administration, trusts are treated as taxpayer entities.
The trustee is responsible for managing the trust’s tax affairs. This includes registering the trust in the tax system, lodging trust tax returns and paying certain tax liabilities.
Beneficiaries (excluding some minors and non-residents) include their share of the trust’s net income as income in their own tax returns. There are special rules for some types of trust including family trusts, deceased estates and super funds.
Yes, we can help you set up a company trust, please contact us for further details
Generally, you are not required to lodge a tax return if your income is below the tax-free threshold of $18,200. However, you may be required to lodge a tax return if you earned less than $18,200 but paid tax on your income.
If you earned more than $18,200 but paid no tax on your income, you may not be required to lodge a tax return.
Answer the question here. Make sure you answer all frequently asked questions to clear some common doubts. People love when they find a solution without having to wait for your reply. This also shows that you have enough knowledge that you can share and help them out.
Please ensure you keep receipts for 5 years from the date of lodgement of your tax return. If you have purchased or sold property, please ensure you retain those records indefinitely.
Please contact us to discuss structure, bank accounts, registrations, etc. It is crucial that you get it right from the outset.
Simply stated, the Tax Courts prescribed standard for determining that a bookkeeping system is appropriate: “Does the bookkeeping provide sufficient data for the taxpayer to make informed business decisions”. An informed business decision is designed to increase profits, reduce losses and to evaluate the overall performance. Here is what the IRS says: You may choose any record keeping system suited to your business that clearly shows your income and expenses. Except in a few cases, the law does not require any special kind of records.
However, the business you are in affects the type of records you need to keep for federal tax purposes. Your record keeping system should also include a summary of your business transactions. This summary is ordinarily made in your business books (for example, accounting journals and ledgers). Your books must show your gross income, as well as your deductions and credits. For most small businesses, the business checkbook is the main source for entries in the business books. Taxpayers had that have no regular books and records, and did not keep separate bank accounts, were considered by the IRS not to have a business.
The family strategic plan establishes policies for the family’s role in the business and is needed to maintain a healthy, viable business. For example, it should include the creed or mission statement that spells out your family’s values and basic policies for the business, and it may include an entry and exit policy that outlines the criteria for working in the business. The plan should consider which family members desire to have a part in management of the business versus those who desire a more passive role.
Regardless of how far into the tax year you are, you will still be required to lodge a tax return (final return) for the business after 30 June. As such, please ensure that you keep your records in good order even after you have closed the business.
You should cancel your tax registrations (GST, PAYG, etc.) once you have stopped trading in order to prevent the ATO from continuing to issue you BAS’s. Structures such as companies are also registered with ASIC so please be aware that you may still be incurring ASIC fees until they are formally closed.
Please note that your structure may have benefits such as tax losses which would be completely lost upon closure of your business. It is worth checking with your accountant prior to closing to ensure there is not a better use for this tax entity.
Yes, you should always keep all the receipts for everything you pay for that’s business related. You should retain your receipts for 5 years
The ATO requires you to register for GST if:
- your business or enterprise has a GST turnover (gross income minus GST) of $75,000 or more
- your non-profit organisation has a GST turnover of $150,000 per year or more
you provide taxi or limousine travel for passengers in exchange for a fare as part of your business, regardless of your GST turnover – this applies to both owner drivers and if you lease or rent a taxi - you want to claim fuel tax credits for your business or enterprise
You are not legally required to register for GST if your business or enterprise does not fit into one of the above categories. However, you may still register for GST if you wish to do so, in which case, you must generally stay registered for at least 12 months.
The due date for lodging and paying is displayed on your BAS. If the due date falls on a weekend or public holiday, you may lodge and pay on the next business day.
QUARTERLY REPORTING
For quarterly reporting, the due date for each quarter is as below:
Quarter 1 (July, August and September): 28 October
Quarter 2 (October, November and December): 28 February
Quarter 3 (January, February and March): 28 April
Quarter 4 (April, May and June): 28 July
You may be eligible for a two-week deferral if you lodge your quarterly activity statements online (excluding Quarter 2) or a four-week deferral if you lodge through us (also excluding Quarter 2).
MONTHLY REPORTING
The due date for your monthly BAS is usually the 21st day of the month following the end of the taxable period.
Schools and associated bodies are automatically granted a deferral of their December activity statement. These will be issued with a deferred due date of 21 February.
We recommend collecting receipts and taking a photocopy of each to ensure the original copy doesn’t fade before your tax return is due or to save it electronically by scanning them to a hard drive and upload them to a cloud storage device like dropbox or google drive for easy access and backup.
If you fail to lodge your return or statement by the due date, you will be issued a Failure to Lodge (FTL) penalty from the ATO. This penalty is calculated on the basis of one penalty unit per 28-day-period or part thereof that the document is overdue and capped at a maximum of five penalty units. Currently, the value of one penalty unit is $210 which makes the maximum penalty applicable to an individual $1,050.
The ATO will attempt to warn you by phone or in writing if you have failed to lodge. If you are subjected to a penalty, a notice stating the amount and due date of the penalty will be sent to you. In extenuating circumstances, you may request for your penalty to be remitted in full or in part.
Please note that larger penalties apply to medium and large entities.
For more information about FTL on time penalties, please visit .
Yes, we recommend a SMSF audit annually. This involves conducting a financial and compliance audit of your superfund which needs to be completed by a registered Auditor
Yes, we are equipped to prepare electronic returns from up to 12 years old. We will require all information including invoices and statements to work out what is relevant.