Latest News

Directors Beware
Further to our news item 17July 2012 where we highlighted that directors can now become personally liable for outstanding Superannuation and also outstanding PAYG withholding debts, the ATO is now about to issue letters to directors of companies which have outstanding liabilities. It extremely important that directors of companies ensure BAS are lodged on time and any superannuation which is paid late (ie after 28 days after the end of the quarter) that they lodge a superannuation guarantee form with the ATO. Failure to do so could see directors automatically becoming personally liable for those debts. Added: Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tony Hoffman

ATO Data Matching
The Government Gazette (GN No 50) reports the ATO data matching 50,000 banking customers to identify Australian customers with offshore bank accounts. The ATO will also collect data relating to 900,000 credit and debit card sales for the year end 30 June 2012. The ATO will also collect from the various state revenue offices, the names and addresses of 10.4 million entities and individuals dealing with real property. Added: Monday, February 11, 2013
Tony Hoffman

Rental Property Owner News
For rental property owners who are employees, you may be able to salary sacrifice rental expenses which have GST in the cost. If you were able to claim a 100% tax deduction for the expense (eg a repainting expense costing $3,300) then you only need to salary sacrifice $3000 from your pay as the employer can pay the cost directly and claim the GST credit if they are GST registered. Added: Monday, February 11, 2013
Tony Hoffman

Urgent Update for Directors
In our last newsletter we flagged potential changes to the director penalty regime. Further to this we can now report that on 29 June 2012, the Federal Government passed laws which go much further than expected and will impact all directors of companies and associates (including spouses) of directors. These changes are now in effect and are retrospective (effectively applying from the period commencing 29 June 2012). The main changes 1. Directors can be made personally liable for not only unpaid PAYG withholding tax (ie tax withheld on employees wages) but now also unpaid employees' superannuation; 2. Directors can no longer remove their personal liability by placing the company into administration where the PAYG or superannuation guarantee remains unpaid and unreported for three (3) months after the due date; 3. In some cases a director and associate (including a spouse) will not be able to claim PAYG credits listed on their PAYG summaries in their personal tax return where the company has failed to remit those amounts withheld; 4. Associates (including spouses) can be held personally liable for unpaid PAYG and super on their own personal tax if they either (1) do not influence the director to pay the outstanding tax to the ATO (or appoint a company administrator) or (2) report the director (ie their spouse!) to the ATO, ASIC or the police! WHAT TO DO? 1. All outstanding BAS and superannuation guarantee returns MUST be lodged and brought up to date regardless of whether they can be paid or not. 2. It is CRITICAL to ensure that ALL future returns are lodged within 3 months of the due dates from now on. 3. If the returns are prepared and lodged but not paid then at least the ATO will know of the debt for the company and therefore the ATO must issue a formal Director Penalty Notice BEFORE any personal liability can apply. Therefore, if a company is placed into administration before the Director Penalty Notice expires, personal liability will be avoided. If you have any concerns about the above or require any further information, please contact our office. Added: Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Tony Hoffman

Trust Resolutions Due 30 June 2012
The ATO has indicated that trustees of trusts need to ensure that they have considered (and preferably documented) their trust resolutions on or before 30 June 2012. Added: Monday, June 25, 2012
Tony Hoffman