Superannuation – Now claimable for many.
Until July 2017 if your employer supported you with super, you couldn’t claim any extra super you paid unless it was part of a salary sacrifice arrangement. That has now changed. If you contribute to a super fund (from after tax earnings or savings) before 30 June 2018, you will be able to claim that contribution as a full tax deduction. Before you claim that amount on your 2018 tax return, you must notify your fund, via a form, that you intend to claim “X” amount as a deduction. So if you want to put some extra money into your super fund, now is the time to do it!!!! Just make sure that your contributions and your employer contributions do not exceed $25,000.
Car & Uniform Expenses
In the 2017 year some 3.5 million people claimed car expenses and the Tax Office thinks that some of those claims are incorrect and some will be deliberately false. Private trips and home to work trips are clearly not allowable. Just as clearly, trips between two places of work are allowable. And in between are several grey scenarios.
Last year, 800,000 people claimed exactly 5000klm of car use – now there’s no such thing as a standard claim so some will be audited just for claiming 5000klm. If in doubt talk to us.
Similar thinking applies to work clothing. In 2017, over 6.0 million people made some claim. Again, corporate wear/uniform or a high vis vest is no problem. Private clothing e.g. a suit or white shirt and black pants, is a problem. And there is no standard claim for laundry or dry cleaning e.g. $150.00. Clothing claims will definitely be an area of focus this year.
UBER, AirBNB etc.
We were surprised last year when two clients were picked up by the Tax Office as UBER drivers – yes, UBER and AirBNB and many others are required to disclose payments they make to their drivers, home renters etc. And with UBER, OLA or GoCatch, you will usually need to register for GST due to laws requiring all taxis to register regardless of turnover. So lots of paperwork and record keeping and there are very clever algorithms just willing to find you if your ratio of income to expense is too low. Our best advice is to talk to us before you sign up with UBER, AirBNB etc.
Car Matching Exercise for $10,000 + buys or sells
This project, whilst only announced in April 2018, will cover the 2017, 2018 and 2019 financial years, looking at about 1.5 million car deals in each year. It will pick up those who make a business of buying and selling, those who understate the value of cars sold and those not meeting their obligations, particularly obligations relating to GST, Fringe Benefits Tax and Fuel Schemes.
Obviously, we will try to ensure that you don’t get audited over some car sale, but just be aware that someone is looking over your (and our) shoulder.