ATO Issues Warning On Tax Deadline

Taxpayers are being reminded that they had until 1st November to file their tax returns or register with a registered tax agent. The deadline would ordinarily be on 31st October but this falls on a Sunday this year, hence the postponement. Those that fail to submit their returns or register…

ASIC Offers Relief to Companies Under External Administration

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has announced plans to provide regulatory relief for businesses in external administration. This move will see much red tape cut when it comes to fulfilling financial reporting and annual general meeting (AGM) obligations. Companies that are in external administration are still expected to…

Tax Dodgers Exposed

A worldwide leak of private documents has occurred, exposing many of the world’s richest. Dubbed the ‘Pandora Papers’, almost twelve million financial documents were made public that exposes previously secretive financial information. This leak reveals a lot about those who are using offshore tax havens to dodge tax. The rich…
kpmg

KPMG Australia Censured and Fined Over Widespread Exam Cheating

US audit watchdog, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), has fined KPMG Australia $615,000 (US$450,000) after it was revealed that there was widespread cheating being done during online internal training tests conducted between 2016 and 2020. KPMG discovered the irregularities in 2020 and made disclosures to regulators, including PCAOB…

Predicted ATO audit activity trends for 2021 & 2022

Despite the temporary slowing in 2020 of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and other State & Federal government revenue authorities’ audit activity levels due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2021 has already proved to be as busy as ever. Our claims team recently published an article on tax audit claim stats all…

Accountants Warn Against Early Lodgement of Tax Returns

While it may seem instinctively preferable to lodge your tax returns early, the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) is advising against it. Taxpayers will be able to lodge their taxes from July 1, 2021, with the Australian Tax Office (ATO) stating they will begin “full processing” from July 7, 2021.…
crypto

Understanding how the Australian Tax Office deals with Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is decentralised but it doesn’t mean it is tax free. It’s important that crypto activity is declared on a tax return as the Australian Tax Office (ATO) will be keeping a close eye on cryptocurrency activity. The ATO estimate between 500,000-1,000,000 Australians own cryptocurrency and every time any transactions…

PricewaterhouseCoopers Support a Nationwide Approach to Payroll Tax

Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has released a payroll tax report that stated a preference for a nationwide standard when it comes to payroll tax. The report highlighted 3 potential opportunities for review that federal legislators could adopt that could help to make payroll tax easier to understand, making it easier…

ATO Revs Up As JobKeeper Set To End In March 2021

Accounting professionals are being advised to get their clients ready for an onslaught from the ATO as an end to JobKeeper is in sight. Since the pandemic began in early 2020, the ATO has paused its audit and compliance work in view of the stresses the business community has been…