Government
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ATO areas of focus on businesses for the coming year
- 8 February 2024
- Posted by: GJ North
- Category: Government
No CommentsAs we move into 2024, the ATO has highlighted three areas of focus for businesses: taking steps to address cyber security and increased protection of personal data, addressing the growth in the collectable debt book – particularly for small businesses – and improving overall tax performance.
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Proposed changes to stage 3 tax cuts announced
- 8 February 2024
- Posted by: GJ North
- Categories: Government, Taxation
With the government finally caving into pressure to change the stage 3 income tax cuts despite its previous promises to keep the already legislated measures, new proposed tax rates have been flagged to come into place from 1 July 2024, largely – in comparison to the legislated measures – benefiting those earning less than $45,000.
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JobKeeper assessment: Treasury report released
- 3 February 2024
- Posted by: GJ North
- Category: Government
Treasury has released the Independent Evaluation of the JobKeeper Payment Final Report. The report considers both the impact and processes of JobKeeper. The evaluation assesses the effectiveness of JobKeeper in achieving its objectives, and records lessons learned from the design and implementation of JobKeeper, with a view to informing future policy responses.
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Simplified payroll reporting and STP Phase 2: employers take note
- 3 February 2024
- Posted by: GJ North
- Categories: Business, Government
While Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 (STP Phase 2) started on 1 January 2022, many digital service providers have a deferral in place to enable them to transition their customers over time.
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ASIC’s new alert list offers guidance on suspicious investment “opportunities”
- 3 February 2024
- Posted by: GJ North
- Category: Government
As a part of the government strategy to target investment scams, ASIC and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) – through the newly formed National Anti-Scam Centre – have published an investor alert list which may help consumers to identify whether entities they are considering investing with could be fraudulent, running a scam or unlicensed.
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Upcoming changes for pension and income support recipients
- 3 February 2024
- Posted by: GJ North
- Category: Government
As a part of the government’s strategy to get more people back into work to solve skills shortages being experienced by many industries, a permanent enhancement to the pensioner work bonus has been announced, along with a doubling of the employment income nil rate period to reduce barriers for income support recipients to take up work.
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Subscriptions included in digital adoption boost: ATO clarification
- 2 October 2023
- Posted by: GJ North
- Categories: Business, Government
The ATO has advised that new and ongoing subscription costs can also qualify as eligible expenditure for the purposes of the digital adoption boost. This was not specified in the ATO’s original release on the measure.
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Simplifying individual tax residency: government consultation
- 2 October 2023
- Posted by: GJ North
- Category: Government
Movement may be afoot on the complex issue of individual tax residency in Australia. In 2019, the Board of Taxation released a report which contained a proposed model for modernising individual residency. The new framework was designed to simplify the tax system and reduce compliance costs for individuals and employers.
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Stay alert for tax time scams
- 19 July 2023
- Posted by: GJ North
- Category: Government
The Federal Government has warned of scammers targeting Australians ahead of tax time 2023. The number of scam reports received to date this year has topped 19,843 and impersonation scams are becoming increasingly commonplace. These scams typically consist of unsolicited contact
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Employers to pay super at same time as wages
- 1 June 2023
- Posted by: GJ North
- Categories: Government, Superannuation
The government has announced that from 1 July 2026, employers will be required to pay their employees’ super at the same time as their salary and wages (ie payday super). The three-year lead time is to give businesses, super funds, payroll providers and other parts of the superannuation system sufficient time to prepare for the change.