2019: Tax Time Checklists – Individuals; Company; Trust; Partnership; and Super Funds

Printing and completing these checklists makes it more efficient for your tax agent to complete your tax returns. Doing so also helps maximise any refunds you receive or payments you have to make.

Please click on the following links to access the checklists most appropriate to your needs.

Individuals

Company Trust Partnership

Superannuation Funds

Big four firm outlines new financial year checklist for SMSFs

With the new financial year starting, one of the big four accounting firms has highlighted the key areas on which SMSF professionals should focus their attention for SMSF clients.

With end of financial year planning now out of the way, Deloitte Private partner Liz Westover outlined some of the areas that might need to be reviewed with SMSF clients for the 2019–20 financial year.

Minutes for withdrawals above the pension minimum

Speaking at a recent Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand event, Ms Westover said where clients are planning to withdraw more than the pension, there may be certain minutes that need to be made.

“If you’re above the minimum and you want to treat some of them as lump sums from accumulation and so on, then get your documents in place because the ATO has a view that they must be prospective, they can’t be retrospective,” Ms Westover said.

Update clients on the new rates and thresholds

SMSF professionals should also ensure their clients are up to date with the rates and thresholds for the 2019–20 financial year.

“The ATO released this months ago, but there are plenty of organisations that just have a two-page list of rates and thresholds that you might want to distribute to your clients,” she said.

Sort out data feeds

Ms Westover said using proper SMSF administration software can create a lot of efficiency for SMSF firms, but practitioners need to ensure that the data feeds are actually in place.

“Now is a good opportunity to get clients to sign authorisations to get those data feeds in place,” she said.

Contributions splitting

Contributions splitting is a good strategy for evening up the balances between spouses, she said.

If an SMSF client made contributions last financial year, then this financial year they can make an election to split up to 85 per cent of those concessional contributions to their partner.

“So, if I’m looking to bring my partner’s balance up, then that’s a great way to do it. It’s a bit of a slow burn, but if you’re talking to younger clients where they can benefit from that over time, contribution splitting can be a good way to build up that second person’s balance,” she explained.

Determining lodgement dates for 2019–20

If it’s a new fund, then the client’s lodgement date will be in February, or if there are funds that were late last financial year, then they will have an October deadline, Ms Westover explained.

“Most clients will generally be in that May–June bucket, but as you’re planning your work, if you just get a good sense of when funds are actually going to be due for lodgement, that can help you work through your workflows and make sure that nobody is late,” she said.

“The ATO has a very strong focus on non-lodgements at the moment.”

Individual versus corporate trustee

While the ATO’s statistics show that 81 per cent of funds are now being set up with a corporate trustee, she said, there are still a lot of funds around with corporate trustees.

“I won’t set a client up [in an SMSF] without a corporate trustee. Nevertheless, we are still in a situation where 59 per cent have corporate trustees and 41 per cent have individual trustees,” she said.

While the process of changing a fund with individual trustees to a corporate trustee is a lengthy process, she said, the new financial year may be a good opportunity to revisit this with clients that still have individual trustees and encourage them to switch to a corporate trustee.

“Everyone has a fresh mind in the new financial year, so that might be a great exercise to actually do,” she said.

Addressing potential residency issues

If SMSF professionals have clients that are heading off overseas on secondments, they will need to consider how this might impact the fund and whether it will jeopardise the fund’s residency status, Ms Westover warned.

“I had a client recently who joined his mum’s fund because he wanted to help her out in terms of the investment side, which was fine, but then he decided he was going to move overseas and semi-permanently, so we had some real issues around the fund in terms of residency and what we did,” she said.

“We talked him through what all the implications were, what he could actually do, and in the end we made the decision that we were going to get him back out of the fund, and in actual fact he was in a better position to help his mother with some of the investments out of the fund than he was being in the fund because he didn’t have control over then.”

One of the other options would have been to turn the fund into a small APRA fund, she said.

“He didn’t want to do that one, but it’s important to have those discussions with your clients. Are you moving overseas and what impact is it going to have on your fund?” she said.

Estate planning

Ms Westover said estate planning is probably the single biggest issue for SMSF clients, especially following the implementation of the super reforms on 1 July 2017.

Previously, it didn’t matter how much clients had in their income streams, she said, as they could just have a reversionary pension, and in their mind, it was sorted.

“Now we potentially have to pull a lot of money out of super as a result of the transfer balance cap provisions, so you need to be thinking about how to deal with the accumulation accounts. I might have a reversionary pension in place on the income stream account, but what about the accumulation account, do I need a binding death benefit nomination?” she said.

“I still see a lot of clients who do not understand that superannuation does not automatically form part of their estate and that their will won’t have any jurisdiction over their superannuation benefits. I’m actually quite astounded by the amount of times that I still see that.”

Miranda Brownlee
28 June 2019
smsfadviser.com

Client Alert – June 2019

Requirement registered to lodge 2019 tax and other returns

The Notice of Requirement to Lodge a Return for Income Year Ended 30 June 2019 has been registered. This covers income tax returns and other lodgments for franking account returns, including special rules for late balancing corporate tax entities that elect to use 30 June as a basis for determining their franking deficit tax liability; venture capital deficit tax returns; ancillary fund returns; trustees of SMSFs; and member information statements by superannuation providers.

The Notice also covers use of approved forms for lodgment, lodgment deferrals, lodgment exemptions, and penalties for non-lodgment.

The Notice of Requirement for Parents with a Child Support Assessment to Lodge for the Income Year Ended 30 June 2019 has also been registered.

Payment summaries and STP this tax time – taxpayers may need a myGov account

While it is being reported that many businesses are not ready for Single Touch Payroll (STP), one report suggests that 70% of small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) are not ready, the employees of businesses that are operating STP face some changes.

As a result of the introduction of STP, taxpayers may need a myGov account in order to get the payment summary details they need to complete their 2019 tax returns. How taxpayers receive their payment summary or income statement from their employer depends on how their employer reports their income, tax and super information to the ATO.

Employers need to let employees know if they won’t be giving them a payment summary this year.

Employees with more than one employer may receive both a payment summary and an income statement. In that situation, employees will need to check that income from their payment summaries is included in their tax return.

TIP

This major change for 2019 will see many taxpayers needing to set up a myGov account and link it to the ATO. This is not necessarily a straightforward process. If taxpayers have a myGov account already linked to other services such as Centrelink or Medicare, adding the ATO can be problematic. For example, the name on each account must match exactly – the ATO is likely to have a taxpayer’s full name whereas a Centrelink account may only have first and last name. This may prevent the ATO from being added to a taxpayer’s myGov account. The situation can be rectified but may require a trip to a Centrelink office.

STP exemptions and deferrals – ATO reminders

With reported unpreparedness for Single Touch Payroll (STP), mainly among small businesses, and with employers having less than 19 employees needing to report their employees’ tax and super information through STP from 1 July 2019, the ATO has reminded businesses about the STP exemptions and deferrals that are available.

There are exemptions for reporting through STP for a particular financial year, for certain payments, or for certain employees.

TIP

Where there are extenuating circumstances that impact an employer’s ability to regularly report on or before pay day (eg regular intermittent internet connectivity issues that result in the ATO receiving its report a couple of days after pay day), they can apply for a recurring deferral.

Ombudsman calls on ATO to cease small business recovery action where tax disputes are before AAT

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) has issued a report into the ATO’s enforcement of debt recovery. In a press release, the ASBFEO called for the ATO to immediately cease debt recovery action where tax disputes were before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

The report contains three key conclusions and seven recommendations. The ASBFEO also reminds small business taxpayers in dispute with the ATO of its Small Business Concierge Service, which started on 1 March 2019. This service provides legal assistance for AAT appeals for a limited cost.

The ATO issued a press release outlining its response to the report stating its long standing policy on debt recovery for cases in dispute at the AAT is to only pursue disputed debt in “exceptional circumstances” and that there are only ”very rare cases” (eg in 2017-18, it took garnishee action against small business in just four cases).

The ATO further stated that it will give consideration to the report’s recommendations while it awaits the Australian National Audit Office’s review of how the ATO manages tax debts for small business.

Cryptocurrency: record keeping requirements and data matching program

The Commissioner has published a gazette notice setting out the record keeping requirements for cryptocurrency owners and traders. The ATO advises that it is undertaking a data matching program for 2014-15 to 2019-20 for such entities.

The data obtained from cryptocurrency designated service providers (DSPs) is being (and will continue to be) used to identify the buyers and sellers of crypto-assets and quantify the related transactions. Data will be matched against ATO records to identify individuals who may not be meeting their registration, reporting, lodgment and/or payment obligations.

The ATO will be working with other regulators, in particular, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to ensure that tax law requirements align with a whole of system approach.

Super death benefit for de facto partner upheld

The Federal Court has dismissed an appeal against a decision to pay a superannuation death benefit pension to a fire fighter’s de facto partner instead of a lump sum to his estate in Howard v Batistich [2019] FCA 525.

The trustee of the Crown Employees Superannuation Fund determined that the respondent, Ms Batistich, was a “de facto partner” of the deceased at the date of his death under the Superannuation Act 1916 (NSW) and the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW). Accordingly, the trustee determined that Ms Batistich was entitled to a fortnightly pension. If there was no spouse (including a de facto), a lump sum death benefit of $350,000 would have been payable to the deceased estate.

The deceased’s parents, as the administrators of his estate, complained to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal that Ms Batistich did not meet the definition of de facto partner.

In dismissing the appeal, the Court said it was not satisfied that the SCT had misunderstood its task or failed to take into account all the circumstances of the relationship.

Protecting Your Super – how new law may affect SMSFs

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Protecting Your Superannuation Package) Act 2019 introduces a number of reforms to protect individual’s super savings from undue erosion by fees and unnecessary insurance. The ATO says it will now be able to proactively consolidate eligible unclaimed super money into eligible active super accounts, including SMSFs and small APRA funds, if an individual hasn’t requested a direct payment of this money or for it to be rolled over to a fund of their choice. Under the Protecting Your Super package, the ATO says SMSFs may receive a rollover of consolidated unclaimed super money for members.

ATO reminds SMEs about paying super for backpackers

The ATO has reminded businesses that employ backpackers that they may need to pay superannuation guarantee (SG) for them.

Backpackers on working holidays are considered temporary residents, and are entitled to superannuation guarantee if they are paid $450 or more before tax in a calendar month. Once they leave Australia, they can claim the super paid to them as a Departing Australia superannuation payment (DASP) providing all requirements are met.

TIP

Determine if backpackers on working holidays are eligible for super by using the ATO’s Super guarantee eligibility decision tool.

Single Touch Payroll Readiness

Government rules out GST changes following ATO report

The government has turned down suggestions that it is considering broadening the GST base, following reports that the ATO had called for GST to be revisited on certain exempt food items.

Reports by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have suggested that the ATO was calling for the government to reconsider the GST treatment of certain food items to deal with the different interpretations depending on how they are packaged and marketed.

One example cited from the ATO’s brief includes confusion around brioche burger buns, which are taxed because they are brioche even though hamburger buns are tax-free.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has since declared that the government would not consider changes to the GST base.

“We have no plans at all to broaden the base of the GST,” Senator Cormann told reporters in Perth on Saturday.

“If we had such a plan we would have taken it to the Australian people before the election.”

The ATO said the report was based off an internal working brief that never got progressed to Treasury or the government.

“The ATO’s role is to administer the tax and super systems, and not to advise on policy. In this case an internal working brief was initiated within the ATO to consider options for an alternative way to identify foods that are exempt from GST,” said an ATO spokesperson.

“The ATO routinely prepares a range of internal working briefs to consider administrative options, many of which do not progress to Treasury or to government.”

Jotham Lian
27 May 2019
accountantsdaily.com.au

Biggest personal tax cuts in a decade a priority for Government

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has signalled that getting his tax changes through parliament will be a top priority for his re-elected government.

As per Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s announcement in the April federal budget, the Liberal Party plans on introducing the biggest round of income tax cuts since the era of John Howard and Peter Costello.

Headline tax measures from the Liberal Party include:

From 1 July 2018, the federal government increased the top threshold of the 32.5 per cent tax bracket from $87,000 to $90,000.
From 1 July 2022, the top threshold of the 32.5 per cent tax bracket will be increased from $90,000 to $120,000.
From 1 July 2024, the government will increase the top threshold of the 32.5 per cent tax bracket from $120,000 to $200,000, removing the 37 per cent tax bracket completely.
From this tax time, those earning up to $126,000 per year would get $1,080 back at tax time. That plan also promised to flatten tax brackets by 2024 so all taxpayers earning between $45,000 and $200,000 would have their tax rate reduced to 30 per cent.

However, as per the continual calls of the tax profession, firms like BDO are calling on the Prime Minister to not confuse tax cuts with tax reform.

“Changes to tax rates should not, on their own, be seen as tax reform,” said BDO tax partner Mark Molesworth.

“The government needs to look at reigniting the debate on holistic tax reform for all taxes in both the federal and state tax systems.”

Katarina Taurian
20 May 2019
accountantsdaily.com.au

Victorian Property Valuation Cycle

Valuations of Victorian properties are now undertaken annually instead of every two years.

When you review the council rate notices for Victorian properties, the valuation is likely to be higher for Melbourne properties. No so, in the country.

Thereafter a benefit to the revenue of each Melbourne based council.

Since this change seems to be driven by State budget efforts to increase revenue from land tax (and council rates) earlier, will this work in reverse when properties are falling in value?

If the valuation appears too high, owners can appeal the valuation, but it must be done promptly or wait another year.

AcctWeb

Australia – toward EOFY 2019

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Please click on the following link to see all this interesting information. The areas covered are:

Overview
Markets
GDP
Labour
Prices
Money
Trade
Government
Business
Consumer
Housing
Taxes
Climate

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tradingeconomics.com/australia

ATO expects 200,000 to miss out on refunds by failing to lodge

The ATO expects that 200,000 people could miss out on a tax refund this year because they haven’t lodged a tax return.

Many salary and wage earners end up with a tax refund, but some are missing out because they fail to lodge on time.

Taxpayers had until 31 October to either lodge their own return, or ensure they are on an agent’s books. Failing to lodge by the deadline can attract a penalty of $210 for every 28 days that the return is overdue, up to a maximum of $1,050.

Have you run out of time to sort out your tax return this year? We’re here to help – get in touch to talk about your options.

AcctWeb

LRBAs, guarantees in need of review after property market falls

With property markets taking a tumble in recent times, some SMSF clients may need to review the loan arrangements and guarantees they have, particularly where the loan-to-value ratio has significantly dropped, says an industry lawyer.

Speaking in a seminar in Sydney, DBA Lawyers director Daniel Butler said the property market has been under some stress recently, and while it may see a bit of a rebound with Labor’s property tax changes off the table, some SMSFs may be impacted by the recent fall in property values.

Mr Butler said the ATO has previously raised concerns about the amount of property loans held by SMSFs and guaranteed by assets outside of super such as the family home.

“If the market collapses, this is going to affect retirement savings and personal assets,” Mr Butler said.

Mr Butler explained that there were two types of guarantees: unsecured guarantees and secured guarantees.

“We have noticed a movement out there, typically with non-bank institutions, that they want that guarantee to be supported by a security or a charge or mortgage over the home or property owned by that guarantor,” he said.

While the fact that it is a limited recourse loan means that the security including any related guarantees should be limited to the value of the acquirable asset, but often they are not.

“You have to read and check it. I read one the other day that said that any asset you hold on trust is also up for grabs. Some of them also say, well, if it’s interest and cost and damages, we can also claim that back, even default interest,” he said.

SMSF professionals and their clients need to be very mindful of the extent of these guarantees, he cautioned, particularly if the client is entering negative equity.

The documents that deal with the guarantee for the loan arrangements may need to be reviewed for those clients who are in that risk category, he advised.

“That would be those that bought an apartment and it’s now close to negativity equity and the they’re getting light on the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) because the property value has sunk but the loan is still there and they’re no longer over their 70 per cent threshold,” he said.

This also needs to be looked at with related-party loans, because if the LVR is no longer under the 70 per cent, then they may need to restructure.

SMSF practitioners should offset their liability by encouraging their clients to get these documents reviewed.

Miranda Brownlee
22 May 2019
smsfadviser.com

GST reporting: common errors and how to correct them

Some businesses are making simple mistakes reporting their GST.

Common GST reporting errors are:

transposition and calculation errors – these mistakes often happen when manually entering amounts, so it’s important to double-check all figures and calculations before submitting your BAS;
no tax invoice – you must keep tax invoices to be able to claim GST credits on business-related purchases;
transaction classifications – it’s important to check what GST applies for each transaction; for example, transactions involving food;
errors in accounting systems – a system with one coding error can classify several transactions incorrectly; and
rents and outgoings entitlements depend on the landlords status

AcctWeb