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In good news for trustees of SMSFs and after much community consultation, transfer balance account event-based reporting (TBAR) will soon be streamlined for convenience. The current event based reporting framework for SMSFs commenced from 1 July 2018 and facilitated the administration of the transfer balance cap by the ATO. SMSFs were generally required to start reporting when its first member commenced a retirement phase income stream.
Recently, the ATO released a protocol document which contains its recommended approach for identifying communications covered by Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) and making LPP claims. As a part of ATO’s formal information gathering powers, it can compel taxpayers to provide various information and documents. However, information and documents where the underlying communication is privileged do not have to be provided.
If you run a professional services firm there are many tax issues to consider in the allocation of profits. The ATO is particularly concerned about individual professionals with an ownership interest who redirect their income to an associated entity, such as a trust, with the effect of significantly reducing their tax liability – raising the prospect that anti-avoidance provisions could apply. From 1 July 2022, new guidelines explaining the ATO’s compliance approach to profit allocations will commence. These guidelines assist taxpayers to identify their particular risk level and understand whether their profit allocation arrangement may attract attention from the ATO.
You are legally required to keep records of all transactions relating to your tax and superannuation affairs as you start, run, sell, change or close your business, specifically:
Tax time 2022 is fast approaching, and this financial year, the ATO will again be focusing on a few key areas to ensure that individuals are doing the right thing and paying the right amount of tax. These key areas are considered by the ATO to be problem areas where individuals make the most mistakes.
The ATO has recently updated its Law Administration Practice Statement on debt relief, waivers and non-pursuit of debt. Specifically, the Practice Statement provides guidance on the Commissioner’s discretion to not pursue the recovery of tax debts, and ATO’s ability to release individual taxpayers from their obligation to pay certain tax-related liabilities.
The PAYG instalment system allows a business to spread its income tax liability across the tax year. This helps with cash flow, but also means the business is not faced with a large tax bill after the end of the tax year.
Due to COVID-19, trustees of an SMSF, or a related party of the fund, may provide or accept certain types of relief, which may give rise to contraventions of the super laws. You may also have been stranded overseas because of travel bans, which can affect your fund's residency status. In recognition of these issues, the ATO is offering support and relief to SMSF trustees for the 2019–20, 2020–21 and 2021–22 income years.
The temporary 50% reduction in minimum annual payment amounts for superannuation pensions and annuities has been extended by a further year to 30 June 2023. This temporary measure was first introduced by the government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic causing significant losses in financial markets, which negatively impacted account balances of super and pension/annuity of many retirees.
The whistleblower protection regime was introduced in 2019, and required large proprietary companies, public companies as well as corporate trustees of registrable super entities to have specific policies that outline the legislated protections for whistleblowers under the Corporations Act and how misconduct can be reported.
To help those nearing retirement boost their super balances, those aged 65 and over are able to make downsizer contribution of up to $300,000 from the proceeds of the sale of their home. This measure was originally envisaged as a way to encourage older people get into more suitable homes as well as increase the level of housing stock in a bid to reduce soaring house prices.
Low-income employees should rejoice that the minimum threshold at which an employer has to pay super under the super guarantee scheme will no longer apply from 1 July 2022. Under the current scheme all employers must pay a minimum level of super contributions on behalf of their employees, but only if each individual employee makes more than $450 per month. This is the minimum threshold