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Accounting Professionals to Temper Salary Increment Expectations

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The 2022-2023 Hays Salary Guide has shown that the accounting and finance sector is facing increased competition for skilled professionals. This is a problem many other industries are facing and has led to unemployment dropping to just 3.9% this year. It is expected to drop further to 3.5% in 2023,…

ATO Warns Taxpayers Against Double Dipping

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The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has confirmed that in 2021, about 8.4 million Australian taxpayers filed claims on almost $19.8 billion in work-related expenses. Assistant Commissioner, Tim Loh, noted that these were a lot of deductions and that the tax body wanted to ensure taxpayers got their claims right the…

Wage Increases and Worker Shortages Affects SMEs

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According to a new Xero survey, the small business sector is burdened by record wage increases that are occurring at the same time the industry is also contending with reduced sales growth driven by inflation. Following huge increases in sales figures, sales growth has slowed down to 5.8%, with the…

ATO to Resume Recovery of Debts on Hold

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The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has informed tax professionals that their clients will begin receiving notification letters on any outstanding aged debt beginning May 2022. Aged debt, or debts on hold, are uneconomic non-pursued debts that are not visible on the balance of taxpayers’ accounts as they have been classified…

ATO Issues Reminder on FBT Obligations

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The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is reminding employers that they may have fringe benefits tax (FBT) obligations that they need to file for before the deadline which falls on 23 May 2022 for those lodging their own returns or lodging paper returns. The deadline for returns being lodged using registered…

IPA Criticizes ATO On New 100A Guidelines

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The Australian Tax Office (ATO) released draft documents concerning the tax treatment of trusts. These guidelines provide recommendations as to how section 100A under the Income Tax Assessment Act of 1936 should be applied in regards to trust stripping arrangements. A key focus of the documents is where distributions are…

Directors Targeted In ATO Debt Collection Drive

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Seen as a sign that the government is now ending its soft approach to tax debt since the pandemic started, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) announced earlier this year that they would be contacting company directors via letter concerning their potential liability for company tax debts. Since then, over 50,000…

Accountants Put On Notice Over LMITO Changes

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As part of the pre-election budget reading on 29 March 2022, the government declared plans to boost the low and middle-income tax offset (LMITO) by an additional $420. Prior to this, the cost of living offset amount was $1,080. This brings the new total to $1,500 for individuals and $3,000…

Modern Tax Compliance Measures To Come

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In announcing the government’s fourth Federal budget before elections likely to take place in May, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has introduced new tax measures seemingly aimed at streamlining the tax return process and making it easier for taxpayers to meet their tax payment obligations. The budget indicates that as of 1…

Do Australian Small Businesses Lag In Digital Adoption?

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A recent business survey conducted by CPA Australia has found that the Australian small business sector is lagging behind that of its peers in other Asia Pacific nations. The 13th annual Asia-Pacific small business survey collected data from 11 economies and found that despite the sluggish performance recorded by businesses…