Home to work travel claims? Generally not, but sometimes…

As a general rule, travel from your home to your workplace is not allowed as a deduction because it constitutes a “private expense”. There are however specific situations where this rule may not apply, and there can be circumstances where you may be entitled to claim some of the travel expenses between your home and your regular workplace, or even your alternative workplace.

But it is a minefield that needs to be treaded carefully so as to not end up in hot water with the taxman. […]

SMSF asset valuations and the contribution caps

Asset valuations and the contribution caps are both contentious issues, with many SMSFs failing to regularly update their asset valuations and some auditors turning a blind eye. And SMSF auditors who do the wrong thing in relation to valuations may also find themselves facing action by ASIC.

The new contribution caps require that assets of the fund, as at 30 June 2017, must be properly valued to determine the fund’s total asset value.

If assets are overvalued this may tip a member over their cap, and if the ATO considers the assets have been deliberately undervalued to keep a member under the cap, then it has the power to take a range of penalty actions.

Generally speaking, assets do not need to be valued by a qualified independent valuer except as indicated below — however this does not mean the trustees cannot just determine any value they like. It must reflect a fair market value of the asset at the time of the valuation, and documentation as to how the valuation was determined should be kept by the fund, so it can provide this to its auditor as well as to the ATO should it seek proof of how valuations were determined. […]

Company directors: Do you REALLY know your responsibilities?

As though business owners and principals don’t already have enough on their minds, discussion about the ups and downs of the business environment is being heard around the barbecue again — just to add to the list of excuses for not sleeping well at night.

Company directors especially need to keep in mind that the Corporations Act holds directors personally liable for many of the legal and financial obligations expected from a company (see the relevant section of the law here).

As anyone running a business knows, commercial decisions must be made, and many times these decisions involve some degree of risk. While the distinction between entrepreneurial freedom and delinquent corporate behaviour will be clear cut for most company directors, there are nevertheless circumstances where these lines can blur, resulting in sometimes substantial (and sometimes unexpected) personal exposure. […]

Is your business prepared for Single Touch Payroll?

Single Touch Payroll is a government initiative to streamline business reporting obligations, which is due to become compulsory from 1 July 2018. When a business pays its employees, the payroll information will be sent to the ATO via the business’s payroll software.

Reporting under the Single Touch Payroll (STP) system removes the requirement to issue payment summaries, provide annual reports and tax file number declarations to the ATO. During the first year of its introduction, the ATO says employers will not be liable for a penalty for a late STP report. […]

It seems that the ATO will be taking a dim view (or dimmer, this year) of the abuse of work related expense claims for individual taxpayers. The total value of such claims rose to a record $21.2 billion in 2017, and reports contend that the ATO is concerned about over-claiming and even outright fraud.

ATO advice for taxpayers, before including claims for work related expenses at the label for “other” work related expenses for 2018 tax time, should consider making sure they can show:

they spent the money themselves and were not reimbursed
the expense was directly related to earning their income
they have a record to prove it.

The push on work related expenses (WREs) comes on the back of the release by the government of a House of Representative Economics Committee’s report on its inquiry into tax deductibility. […]

Rental property investors can claim capital works deductions for construction costs for a rental property, however there are limits imposed in relation to the dates such works were completed. The deductions are only available on residential properties if these were built after 17 July 1985. Generally, up to 15 September 1987 the rate is 4% a year (over 25 years) and after then is 2.5% (but over 40 years).

Residential property investors seeking capital works deductions need to remember that you can only make a claim for periods when the rental property was used for income producing purposes, not when used for private purposes.

Subsequent purchasers of a property can claim for the balance of the period, because unlike a depreciating asset there is no balancing adjustment on disposal of the property, unless the building is destroyed. The balance of any claim is passed on, on the same basis, to any later owners. […]

Small business CGT concession eligibility to tighten
The government announced last year that it intended to tighten the eligibility factors for the CGT concessions that are generally available to small businesses. The CGT concessions are important for qualifying businesses in that they can defer, reduce or remove liability to CGT.

Specifically, the proposed amendments (which have been released in exposure draft form) will limit the current CGT concessions to assets that are used by a small business or ownership interests in a small business. […]