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Happy Holidays!

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Is the silly season stressing you out!? Greetings to the wonderful and the weird, With Christmas just around the corner, everyone, not just small businesses are gearing up for what many say is the silly season. During this time of the year, it's easy to get sucked into quarter end goals, planning for the holidays, where to take the kids, which mother-in-law is more bearable to spend the festive season with :-) Just take a moment for yourself, breathe and self-reflect and become more present in the now. I'm constantly reminded of my WHY as I take time out to appreciate and cherish all the things that is right now, certainly helped me stay grounded and centred with so much craziness happening all around us. This isn't just about being warm and fuzzy, getting back to the core as to what gets us up every morning and the challenges we choose to face is more important than tips, tricks and hacks we are often seeking as business owners for quick fixes to our problems of no time, bad staff, no profits so on and so on. Working on yourself and your business strategy is not a one-time event, I would encourage you to continue to refine and redefine your strategy for the new opportunity that lines ahead in the new year. With that said, as we enter the silly seasons, here 4 simple but very effective tactical business operation tips to manage the #1 problem all small business owners face, CASHFLOW. BOOST SALES Think of creative ways to convert those quotes into sales, offering incentives to get customers, service staff as well as your sales force to get jobs over the line and increase sales. This could involve clearing out WIP and finishing off those work items so you can invoice and collect cash. COLLECT ON RECEIVABLES ASAP If necessary, use this opportunity to allocate the task of contacting customers more frequently to collect payments. EXTEND PAYABLE ALAP Negotiate the best deal you can on payable, ask for extension if you can, ask for special offers/discount, it is the season for 'giving'. Review your spending, be creative with gifts that have better meaning and add value, this could be a thank-you phone call or contributing a donation on their behalf, and remember not to be wasteful. MAINTAIN CASH RESERVES If this is your slow period, you may find yourself in a shortfall position in the silly season, work on managing cash-flow instead of profits during this period as you enter the quieter period will keep your stress levels in check. It will probably be the only time you will get a chance to relax so don't waste it with unnecessary worries running around in your thoughts. These tips aren't new or secrets, they only scratch the surface, some of us need a little reminder from time to time. For those interested in Fridge Benefit Tax and Entertainment as we head into the festive season and want to know more about the exemptions and their application to Christmas parties, happy to continue the conversation, feel free to drop me a line. -- Your Accounting Partners James Huy Vuong "Business is the key that will set you free".

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Key to taking on the ATO - It's never something you would blatantly want to do, but record keeping is always the key to taking on the ATO. In a recent case before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), amended assessments issued to a taxpayer by the ATO, which were based on the amounts of unexplained deposits to the taxpayer’s bank accounts (in some years, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, in others, millions), have been largely upheld. The total further tax claimed by the ATO was almost $4 million, and, on top of that, they imposed an administrative penalty of almost $2 million (imposed at the rate of 50% for recklessness). The taxpayer was partially successful in proving that some of the amounts deposited into bank accounts held in his name were not assessable income. In particular, the taxpayer was able to demonstrate that some of the deposits were reimbursements of amounts he paid in relation to a group of companies of which he was an investor, and some were transfers from one of his bank accounts to another. However, in relation to many of the deposits to his bank accounts, he had no corroborative evidence as to what they represented. Therefore, he failed to discharge his onus to prove the amounts should not have been included in his assessable income. Yet again the AAT has provided taxpayers with another reminder as to the importance of documentation and good record-keeping.

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Fallout from ‘PANAMA PAPERS’ spreads.. Earlier in the year, an unknown source had leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm of Mossack Fonseca – referred to as the ‘Panama Papers’. To sum things up; 11.5M documents leaked, 214,488 entities involved includes companies, trust and foundations. 200+ Countries/territories invovled. 12 current or former country leaders involved. 29 Forbes-listed billionaire named. The documents illustrated how the wealthy are hiding their money and income from tax authorities around the world. The Commissioner of Taxation, Chris Jordan, has announced, having commenced the assessment of the data, the ATO believes that some overseas structures and trusts are being used to: - evade tax; - avoid corporate responsibility; - disguise and hide unexplained wealth; and - facilitate criminal activity and launder the proceeds of crime. He went on to say the ATO has made significant progress in dealing with those exposed in the Panama Papers who have tried to avoid their tax obligations

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Singapore and ATO to share data to reduce tax evasion... The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and the ATO have entered into an agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information (based on the 'Common Reporting Standard'). This automatic exchange of financial information will commence by September 2018.

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RECEIVING payments from CENTERLINK? The Department of Human Services (DHS) (which operates Centrelink) has launched its 'Non Employment Income Data Matching project', matching income data it collects from "customers" with tax return related data reported to the ATO. This project will assist the DHS to identify social welfare recipients who may not have disclosed income and assets to the Department, including welfare recipients who have lodged a Tax Return with the ATO during 2011 to 2014.

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GST on low-value IMPORTS! Goods imported into Australia – often by consumers using the internet – which cost less than $1,000 are currently GST-free. On May 3 2016, as part of its package of Budget Night announcements, the Federal government proposed that, as of 1 July 2017, this low-value threshold (‘LVT’) of $1,000 will be abolished. The removal of the LVT will see many purchases made by individuals and businesses over the internet from an overseas vendor being subject to GST from 1 July 2017. It is proposed that, as of 1 July 2017, overseas businesses with an Australian annual turnover of greater than $75,000 will be required to register for GST and collect GST on sales made to Australian customers. It has been reported that the Federal government could use powers it has under the Telecommunications Act to force internet service providers to block websites of overseas businesses that do not meet their Australian GST obligations (although it remains to be seen if this would actually happen . . . )

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Government ‘BACKFLIP’ on Superannuation changes! Following further consultation, the government has announced the following ‘improvements’ to the superannuation changes announced in the 2016/17 Budget: The $500,000-lifetime non-concessional cap will be replaced by a new measure to reduce the existing annual non-concessional contributions cap from $180,000 per year to $100,000 per year; Individuals with a superannuation balance of more than $1.6 million will no longer be eligible to make non-concessional contributions from 1 July 2017; and The commencement date of the proposed ‘catch-up’ for concessional superannuation contributions will be deferred by 12 months to 1 July 2018. Also, the government will now not change the contribution rules for those aged 65 to 74. Those who wish to discuss these superannuation changes should contact our office 1300 74 00 66.

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Are you still thinking about lodging your own tax? Lodge your tax return by the 31 October deadline to avoid penalties. Not sure where to start? Give us a call for an obligation free chat on 1300 74 00 66.

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