The ATO has reminded employers that the superannuation guarantee (SG) amnesty closed on 7 September 2020. The amnesty enabled employers to self-correct historical SG underpayments, without incurring the normal penalties, for SG shortfalls from 1 July 1992 until 31 March 2018. Any amnesty applications received by the ATO after 11:59pm on 7 September will not [...]
Super guarantee amnesty now closed
October 5th, 2020Super choice of fund and enterprise agreements
October 5th, 2020With recent changes to Australia’s superannuation law, the “choice of super fund” regime now extends to employees covered by enterprise agreements and workplace determinations made from 1 January 2021. Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has said this will allow another 800,000 people to make choices about where their super guarantee contributions are invested, representing around 40% [...]
ASIC grants hardship relief for withdrawals from frozen funds
October 5th, 2020The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has announced new relief measures for operators of managed funds to facilitate withdrawals by members who are facing financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The conditional relief will apply to all responsible entities (REs) of registered managed investment schemes (MIS) that have become “frozen funds”. At times of [...]
Extended COVID-19 support and relief measures
October 5th, 2020JobKeeper The end date of the JobKeeper scheme has now been extended from 27 September 2020 to 28 March 2021, as announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on 21 July 2020. The relevant legislation also amends tax secrecy provisions in relation to JobKeeper and extends certain provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 implemented in [...]
ATO updates on new JobKeeper arrangements
October 5th, 2020The ATO has also released an array of new and updated information sheets addressing the changes to JobKeeper. Here is a summary of some main points to consider. Actual decline in turnover test The ATO states that the actual decline in turnover test can be satisfied in two ways, using: • the basic test; or [...]
COVID-19 and FBT: updated ATO advice
October 5th, 2020The ATO has updated its COVID-19 and fringe benefits tax (FBT) advice, providing a useful outline of some issues that may arise due to an employer’s response to COVID-19. TIP: Although the following summary deals with FBT specifically, it is worth thinking through the related income tax consequences. Contact us to find out more. Working [...]
JobKeeper extension period 1 (Stage 2) and period 2 (Stage 3)
October 5th, 2020Although you do not need to re-enrol in JobKeeper, you do need to notify the ATO of your eligible employees and what rate you are paying them as part of your normal payday reporting in October. This can easily be done through Single Touch Payroll. For the extension period commencing from 28 September 2020, employers [...]
Grants – Victorian Government Business Support Fund 3
September 24th, 2020You may be entitled to the Third round of Victorian Government Business Support Grants On 13 September 2020, the Victorian Government announced a new support package to help businesses survive the impacts of continued coronavirus (COVID-19) shutdown restrictions and to keep Victorians in jobs. Business Support Fund 3 specifically targets businesses in industry sectors that [...]
FBT: cars garaged at employees’ homes during COVID-19
September 3rd, 2020The ATO has published a fact sheet to assist employers in determining if they have an FBT liability where cars are garaged at employees’ homes because of COVID-19. The fact sheet states that the ATO will accept that an employer isn’t holding a car for the purposes of providing fringe benefits where the car isn’t [...]
ATO’s employees guide for work expenses updated
September 3rd, 2020The ATO has updated its employees guide for work expenses for 2019–2020. The document is designed to assist employees to determine whether incurred expenses are tax deductible, and outlines the substantiation requirements. The following are highlighted as being new for 2019–2020: • The additional method for calculating running expenses incurred as a result of working [...]
