On 30 March 2020, the Australian Government published a fact sheet to provide more information on JobKeeper payments as the third stage in stimulus and support packages to assist with COVID-19 impacts.
The super guarantee (SG) amnesty, introduced by the government on 6 March 2020, allows employers to disclose and pay any unpaid super guarantee charges (SGC) that they owe for their employees, from quarters between 1 July 1992 and 31 March 2018, with nominal interest but without risk of incurring potentially huge penalties.
From 30 June 2020, Australian property owners living overseas will lose capital gains tax (GCT) exemptions on their main residence under legislation introduced by the Australian government.
The DPN (Director Penalty Notice) regime was extended by legislation passed on 5 February 2020 so that now, a director can be held personally liable if the company has not met its GST obligations, in addition to the pre-existing liability of directors for unpaid company PAYG (pay-as-you-go) withholding and SGC (superannuation guarantee charge) obligations.
Effective from the 2017–18 income year, some companies are eligible for the reduced corporate tax rate of 27.5% if certain conditions are met. Find out if your company qualifies for this reduced rate in the financial year 2017-2018 and more reductions in years to follow.
Recently the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2014 received Royal Assent. Amongst other things, this Bill repeals various measures brought in by the previous Labor government including:
Following on from the release of Tax Determination 2014/10, the ATO has begun the process of mailing those taxpayers it believes undertook a dividend washing transaction. The ATO will not impose any penalties on taxpayers who have entered dividend washing transactions and come forward to self-amend their tax returns before the date specified in the letter they receive from the ATO. These taxpayers will of course have to pay back the extra franking credits in question.
A summary of the tax agent lodgement program for 2014/2015 is as follows:
For individuals:
The ATO has updated its website about the latest ‘tax scams’ including refund/phishing scams, mobile phone and telephone scams. The website is included here: https://www.ato.gov.au/general/online-services/in-detail/online/online-security/?page=4#Examples_of_tax_related_scams.
From 1 July 2014, a legislative change will allow the ATO to apply a broader range of penalties and directions for SMSF breaches.
These penalties will be imposed on each trustee.
As an example, for an SMSF with four individual trustees, the ATO will impose a penalty on each trustee.
Tax agent
80927009
