Tax & Accounting

Seniors and pensioners tax offset (SAPTO) is a tax offset that’s available to eligible seniors and pensioners in Australia. It can reduce or even totally reduce a recipient’s tax liability to zero. However, they can’t generate you a tax refund. SAPTO is designed for low-income and elderly Australians. In order to qualify for the tax offset,…

If you produce assessable income at home, or some of it, and you incur expenses from using that home as your “office” or “workshop”, the ATO will generally allow that a taxpayer could be in a position to be able to claim some expenses and make some deductions. Otherwise the ATO takes the view that…

If you are an employer, you may appreciate knowing what the ATO is looking out for, and the fringe benefits you’re expected to report, so you can avoid attracting its attention or making costly mistakes. In this year’s updated ATO list for taxpayers, titled “What attracts our attention”, there are six items that specifically relate…

Looking to make a donation to charity? When you give a gift or make a contribution to an not-for-profit organization. Some donations could be claimed as tax deductions on your individual tax return. The amount you can claim will depend on the type of donation you make. What is a gift? A voluntary transfer of…

Are you able to claim tax concessions when buying, leasing or modifying a car? This concession applies to a person with a disability or an eligible veteran. Furthermore, it applies only to cars, not other vehicles such as trucks or vans. People With Disability You’re eligible for car tax concessions if both of the following apply:  …

As a small business, you may be eligible for capital gains tax (CGT) concessions on assets used to conduct your business. We call these ‘active assets’. Eligibility conditions to access these concessions when any of the following apply: you’re a small business with an aggregated annual turnover of less than $2 million your asset was used…

There are very limited circumstances where you can access your super early. These circumstances are mainly related to specific medical conditions, severe financial hardship or the First home super saver scheme. You can withdraw your super: when you turn 65 (even if you haven’t retired) when you reach preservation age and retire, or under the transition to…

Are you an Australian? Are you running business overseas? Then you are taxed on your worldwide income. It means you have to report all income you receive from foreign business activities on your Australian tax return. The tax treatment of your income depends on a number of factors, such as whether your activities are carried…

Fuel tax credit rates are updated every year (generally on 1 February, but for 2018 they changed on 5 February). It is therefore a timely that the ATO has made public some common errors that taxpayers make when calculating and claiming fuel tax credits. The tips that follow will help taxpayers avoid these errors, or…

You may be able to claim a deduction for self-education expenses if your self-education relates to your current work activities as an employee. In some circumstances you have to reduce the amount of your claim by $250. You cannot claim these expenses if the course is undertaken to secure a new job or results in…