The ATO is phasing in a new way of reporting tax withheld from wages (PAYGW) and employee Superannuation payments. This is part of the push to increase scrutiny and compliance for employers to be held accountable for superannuation guarantee.

From 1/7/18, employers with 20 or more staff on payroll are required to use Single Touch Payroll (STP) to report PAYGW and Super obligations to the ATO in real time.
This feature will be enabled through your accounting or payroll software.

The new reporting requirements will likely be rolled out to all employers (with less than 20 staff on payroll) at a future date.

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From the Sep'17 quarter onwards, the ATO has made BAS reporting a whole lot easier for businesses with a turnover under $10m.
The following pesky little items are no longer required to be reported:

• G2 - Export Sales
• G3 - GST Free Sales
• G10 - Capital Purchases
• G11 - Non Capital Purchases

With 30 June fast approaching now is the time to ensure your payroll house is in order.
 
Payment Summaries (also known as group certificates) are required to be sent out to all employees by 14 July. This doesn’t give you much time to work through any anomalies that may arise, especially if you have other year-end accounting duties that need to be completed.
 
You need to start thinking about the following:

• Sending out a bulk email to all staff to find out if anyone has changed email or postal addresses during the year. This needs to be checked against the details you have in your payroll system.
• Do a comprehensive reconciliation of all payroll related GL accounts - Wages Expense, Super Expense, Wages Payable, Super Payable, PAYG Withheld, FBT Payable etc.
• Make sure your payroll figures match what has been submitted on your BAS.
• Ensure you have the correct Super fund and Member number details.
• Are you missing Tax File Number Declarations from anyone and have they been filed with the ATO?
• Was there any Fringe Benefits Tax that needs to be included on the payment summaries?

              Note the FBT year runs from 1 April to 31 March.

• Has there been any salary packaging or reportable super contributions?
• Were there any lump sum termination payments?
• Did anything unusual happen or was there an error on a payment that needs to be corrected before June 30?
• Check entitlement balances in detail and ensure that anyone who left during the year has a nil Annual Leave balance.

 
As you can see there is a lot to be thinking about and it is a much easier (not to mention less stressful) to have these things sorted before the end of financial year.
 
Work out a plan, tick tasks off as you go and you will be in a good position for a nice, smooth year end.
 
If you’re not sure, it pays to seek advice. The last thing you want is for employees to be using the wrong figures on their tax returns.
 
Happy EOFY!

Scott Morrison has handed down the budget for the 2017/18 and here are a few changes that are worth noting.

• The $20k immediate tax deduction has been extended to 30/6/18
• The First Home Super Saver Scheme has been introduced to help first home buyers save a deposit quicker. It involves salary sacrificing pre-tax dollars from your pay cheque into your super account. Deposits will then be taxed at the same 15% concessional rate as your superannuation.
• The Medicare Levy has been increased by 0.5% to 2.5%
• The HECS/HELP debt repayment threshold has been lowered to $42k from the current level of around $52k.
• Travel expenses incurred by owners on negatively geared properties are no longer deductible.
• Depreciation expenses on investment properties can no longer be deducted unless the owner (you) incurred the cost and not a previous owner.

If you have any questions as always we are happy to have a chat.

​There is much relief to fruit growers across the country after the backpacker tax has finally been agreed upon and set at 15%.
 
A tax of 32.5% was initially proposed by the Coalition in September. Since then there has been considerable debate between political parties and various interest groups.
 
The 15% tax will come into effect from 1 January 2017.