The importance of insurance

A significant number of working Australians remain under-insured or even worse, totally uninsured. Either way, this can have dire consequences for families in the unfortunate event of a family member passing away, having a serious i …

Your super at End of Financial Year

While the Coronavirus pandemic has captured global attention, it's still important to be mindful of your long-term planning for retirement. Superannuation savings have not been immune to the economic downturn caused by Coronavirus, …

Claiming home office costs: The ATO's short-cut method.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has announced a temporary simplified short-cut method to make it easier for individual taxpayers to claim deductions for additional running expenses incurred (eg. additional heating, cooling and light …

Managing self-employment in a downturn

With a recession becoming increasingly likely as a result of the impacts of COVID-19, many self-employed Australians are understandably nervous about how they will manage any disruption to their income throughout this time. …

Thousands of Expat Australians face Capital Gains Tax hit

Australian property owners living overseas have until the end of June 2020 to sell their homes if they want to avoid big Capital Gains Tax bills. …

Company Directors will be personally liable for unpaid GST

Federal Parliament has recently passed legislation to include GST in the Director Penalty Notice (DPN) regime, and it is expected to come into effect on 01 April 2020. Currently, company directors are personally liable for unpaid su …

Changes to Income Protection Insurance Policies

At the end of 2019, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) announced important changes to retail income protection insurance - and some of these changes are expected to take place from 01 April this year. The changes …

Engaging contractors. Should you pay their super?

Now here's a case study that will make many employer business owners take notice. The courts recently ruled that a "sub-contractor" engaged by a property maintenance business was actually an employee (and not an independent cont …

Work travel claims for your business

Do you sometimes take work trips for your business – perhaps to conferences, trade shows or to visit interstate or overseas clients? When a trip is clearly for business purposes only, the rules for deducting your expenses are reason …

Commonwealth Seniors Health Card – are you eligible?

We're all aware that for a person to be eligible for the age pension, their assets and income need to be below the relevant thresholds and of course they need to reach the required age. …