The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has recently been made aware of circumstances where a member of a SMSF commences a new market-linked pension and unintentionally exceeds their transfer balance cap. An individual may have exceeded their transfer balance cap if they were receiving a life expectancy or market-linked pension just before 1 July 2017 (which…
The Personal Income Tax Plan announced as part of this year’s Federal Budget has been passed by Parliament. The plan introduces: – a new low and middle-income tax offset to reduce the tax payable by low and middle-income earners in the 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 income years – a new low-income tax offset from…
Working with unreasonable people is inevitable for most individuals at some point in their careers. Whether it is an unhappy customer, difficult colleague or uncompromising community member – chances are you will encounter at least one of these situations. Unfortunately, there is no crash course in dealing with difficult people, but by applying some basic…
Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) are required to provide an accumulation phase value (APV) on their transfer balance account report for 30 June 2017 in certain circumstances. SMSFs should note, APV is often different to the account balance of the SMSF member’s accumulation phase assets. This is due to the exit and administration fees and realisation…
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is cracking down on claims for work-related clothing and laundry expenses this tax time. Last year total claims for work-related clothing and laundry expenses totalled nearly $1.8 billion. The ATO has acknowledged that many of these claims are legitimate. However, it is unlikely that half of all taxpayers would have…
When the winter season commences, you might notice a spike in your bills. Although, it is no surprise that additional heating and hot water adds up, you may be surprised at how you can reduce these costs with minimal effort. Consider the following tips to reduce your winter bills and lessen your environmental impact: Heating…
Failure is often considered a sign of weakness or defeat. However, it is also known to be a natural stage in an entrepreneur’s career and a stepping-stone to success in the world of business. Embracing the failures that arise in your career will help you to pinpoint ideas, strategies, etc, that were not working and…
There is a number of changes to the 2017-18 Self-managed super fund annual return (SAR) thanks to the super changes which came into effect on 1 July 2017. Transition to retirement income stream (TRIS) accountThe ATO has included a new label for the number of TRIS accounts an SMSF member has in accumulation phase. A…
