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The ATO’s recently released interpretation of the tax treatment of capital gains distributed by an Australian discretionary trust to non-resident beneficiaries will have a significant negative impact for some. Two new determinations released by the ATO deal with the complex...

  The Reserve Bank of Australia is widely tipped to reduce interest rates again to historic lows. Easton Wealth economist Emmanuel Calligeris explores the impact.   Australia and world volatility The ongoing trade war between the US and China has dominated financial market movements...

The Government has resurrected the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) amnesty giving employers that have fallen behind with their SG obligations the ability to “self-correct.” This time however, the incentive of the amnesty is strengthened by harsh penalties for those that fail to take action. Origina...

Last month, the ATO released statistics showing small business is responsible for 12.5% ($11.1 billion) of the total estimated ‘tax gap’. These new figures give visibility to tax compliance issues within the small business sector and indicate where we can expect ATO resources to be focussed n...

It’s not uncommon for landlords to be confused about what they can and can’t claim for their rental properties. What often seems to make perfect sense in the real world does not always make sense for the Australian Tax Office (ATO). In general, deductions can only be claimed if they wer...

The investment strategies of Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs) are under scrutiny with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) contacting 17,700 trustees about a lack of asset diversity. The ATO is concerned that, “a lack of diversification or concentration risk, can expose the SMSF...

Five years ago, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) offered a penalty amnesty on undisclosed foreign income. Five years on, the ATO has again flagged that underreporting of foreign income is an issue but this time the gloves are off. How you are taxed and what you are taxed on depends on your re...

Would you claim the Lego you bought for your kids throughout the year as a tax deduction? One taxpayer did and it made the Australian Taxation Office’s 2018-19 list of most unusual claims. The Lego was not the only claim for money spent on kids. Another taxpayer claimed their children’s ...

By 30 June 2019, five major financial institutions paid $119.7 million in compensation for poor financial advice to 6,318 customers. The question is, how are these payments treated for tax purposes? The tax treatment varies according to why the compensation was paid and who the payment w...

When an employee uses a taxi service for travel to or from work or if the employee is sick, it is generally exempt from Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) under the FBT taxi travel exemption. The question is, what about Uber and other ride sharing services, do they also qualify for the exemption? If Uber...