The most basic rules when you claim a deduction are:

– Claim the deduction in the same income year that you made the purchase.

– Don’t claim an expense that you have been, or will be, reimbursed for.

– Claim for expenses in earning your assessable (taxable) income but not private, domestic or capital expenses.

– Keep written records.

A rental property is negatively geared if it is purchased with the assistance of borrowed funds and the net rental income, after deducting other expenses, is less than the interest on the borrowings.

The overall taxation result of a negatively geared property is that a net rental loss arises. In this case, you may be able to claim a deduction for the full amount of rental expenses against your rental and other income (such as salary, wages or business income) when you complete your tax return for the relevant income year. Where the other income is not sufficient to absorb the loss it is carried forward to the next tax year.

If by negatively gearing a rental property, the rental expenses you claim in your tax return would result in a tax refund, you may reduce your rate of withholding to better match your year-end tax liability.

If you believe your circumstances warrant a reduction to your rate or amount of withholding, you can apply to us for a variation using the PAYG income tax withholding variation (ITWV) application (NAT 2036).

If you are having financial difficulty and are unable to meet your tax obligations, please contact us to see if we are able to set up a payment arrangement between you and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The ATO are generally more responsive when it comes to tax debt if you contact them and not the other way around.

The ATO will commonly offer a manageable arrangement to pay off the current debt over a period of 12 months or less, but it is important that all future activity statements and/or tax returns are lodged and paid on time, as the payment arrangement will only cover the existing debt. If you fail to meet this minimum requirement the ATO will have considered you to have defaulted on the payment arrangement and you may be required to pay the debt in full.

No. When you purchase an asset, this asset has an effective life. You may be able to claim a deduction for the decline in value of your depreciating assets over the life of the asset.

A deduction for the decline in value of a depreciating asset is not allowable if the depreciating asset is used solely for private purposes.

Examples of depreciating assets include:

– Computers

– Tools

– Furnishings, carpet and curtains

– Motor Vehicles

* You can choose to use the simplified depreciation rules if you have a small business with an aggregated turnover (the total normal income of your business and that of any associated businesses) of less than:
•$10 million from 1 July 2016 onwards
•$2 million for previous income years.

Under these rules, you:
•immediately write-off – deduct their full cost in the year you buy them – most depreciating assets that cost less than $20,000 (see note 1) each that were bought and used, or installed ready for use from 7.30pm (AEST) on 12 May 2015 until 30 June 2018
•pool most other depreciating assets that cost $20,000 or more in a small business asset pool and claim
–a 15% deduction in the first year (regardless of when you purchased or acquired them during the year)
–a 30% deduction each year after the first year

•write-off the balance of your small business pool at the end of an income year if the balance – before applying any other depreciation deduction – is less than $20,000.

Note: The current instant asset write-off threshold is $20,000. This threshold has been extended until 30 June 2018. It has changed over the last few years (see Instant asset write-off).
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There are a variety of structures which include Sole Trader, Partnership, Trust, Company and Superannuation that are available to choose when you are in business.

It will depend on your individual circumstances which structure will be right for you and your future needs. It is always best to seek the right advice when making these decisions as setting the right structure up from the very beginning can save you a lot of time and money.

It’s important you correctly determine whether your worker is an employee or contractor as you’ll need to meet different tax and super obligations.

To find out whether your worker is an employee or contractor use the ATO online tool

http://www.ato.gov.au/Calculators-and-tools/Employee-or-contractor/

The Australian tax system relies on taxpayers self-assessing. This means that you are responsible for working out how much you can declare and claim on your tax return. You also need to be able to show how you arrived at these figures – in some cases you may be required to provide written evidence.

In order to prepare an accurate tax return and support the claims you make, you need to keep careful records. The records you need to keep depend on your personal circumstances. If you are not sure, it is better to keep too many records than not enough.

The guide above provides general advice to help you identify what records you need to keep.

Department of Human Services

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/

When a new worker starts, you need to determine whether the worker is an employee or an independent contractor.

Your tax and superannuation obligations will depend on whether the worker is an employee or an independent contractor.

Superannuation Guarantee Rates that the employer oblige to pay are:

From 1 July 2014 = 9.50%

2014–15 = 9.50%

2015–16 = 9.50%

2016–17 = 9.50%

2017–18 = 9.50%

2018–19 = 9.5%

2019–20 = 9.5%

2020-21 = 9.5%

2021-22 = 10%

2022-23 = 10.50%

2023-24 = 11%

2024-25 = 11.50%

2025-26 = 12%

2026-27 and onwards = 12%

Quarterly BAS: 28th day after the quarter ends.

Monthly BAS: 21st day after the month ends.

After the financial year ends you have until 31 October to lodge your return (unless you use a tax agent).

Quarterly payments: 28th day after the quarter ends.

You are eligible if you are between 18 and 69 years old (inclusive) and are paid $450 or more (before tax) in a month. It doesn’t matter whether you’re full time, part time or casual, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a temporary resident of Australia.

From 1 July 2017:

– the general concessional contributions cap is $25,000.

Unused concessional cap carry forward

From 1 July 2018 if you have a total superannuation balance of less than $500,000 on 30 June of the previous financial year, you may be entitled to contribute more than the general concessional contributions cap and make additional concessional contributions for any unused amounts.

The first year you will be entitled to carry forward unused amounts is the 2019–20 financial year. Unused amounts are available for a maximum of five years, and after this period will expire.

If you’re under 18 you must meet these conditions and work more than 30 hours per week to be entitled to super contributions. If you’re a contractor paid wholly or principally for your labour, you’re considered an employee for super purposes and entitled to super guarantee contributions under the same rules as employees.

You are required to keep your records for 5 years from the date of lodgement.

Contact us and we will send you a payment advice.

We can set that up for you. This includes ABN, GST (if required), public liability or professional indemnity and insurances as required.

If your gross turnover exceeds $75,000.

The net medical expenses tax offset is being phased out.

From 2015–16 until 2018–19, claims for this offset are restricted to net eligible expenses for disability aids, attendant care or aged care.

Net expenses are your total eligible medical expenses minus refunds you, or someone else, received.

Age	2011–12 & 2012–13	2013–14 onwards
Under 65	3%	4%
65–74	3.75%	5%
75–79	4.5%	6%
80–84	5.25%	7%
85–89	6.75%	9%
90–94	8.25%	11%
95 or older	10.5%	14%

This is very broad and one answer does not suit everybody. Please contact us and we will send you a checklist by email, fax or mail. Whichever you would prefer.

Usually the ATO takes 5-10 working days to process tax returns, however processing times can vary depending on other circumstances.