Once again we are at the beginning of another year! The years just fly by faster and faster. 2023 has certainly had challenges with our changing business landscape. I hope you have had some special times with those near and dear to you.
From all of us at Cascade Accounting & Tax, we wish you peace, happiness, health and prosperity for 2024!
IN THIS ISSUE:
- Karen becomes a Published Author!
- Stay Safe Online
- The Future without Cheques
- Fair Work Updates
- Appointment of Tax Agents is now via MyGovID
- Payment of Superannuation
- Maximum allowable Superannuation Contributions
- ATO Collections
- Company Tax Rate for 2023
Karen becomes a Published Author!
In December 2022, the book “Everyday Woman’s Guide to The Mindset Of A Successful Woman” was published including a chapter written by Karen McDonald.
In October 2023, the book “Everyday Woman’s Guide to Living Your Best Life” was published including a chapter written by Karen McDonald.
Stay Safe Online
Scammers
Unfortunately scammers are not going away any time soon.
If you have appointed us as your tax agent, if the ATO calls you, you are allowed to tell the caller to call your tax agent.
The ATO will not ask for access to your online banking.
If you are unsure of a caller’s genuineness, hang up and call the company directly. Do not click on a link from someone you do not know – be it an Email, Text Message or Online Chat Message.
Email and text message interception
Email is a very convenient way to communicate, but unfortunately it can be intercepted.
True story, about six years ago an email giving Karen’s bank account details to her brother in law was intercepted and the account number changed from a Bendigo account to an ANZ account. Brother-in-law sent me a confirmation text showing the payment to an ANZ account. It took a fair bit to convince Brother-in-law that the account he had paid into was NOT mine. It took about six weeks to recover the $1,000. Fortunately we told the bank the same day, which helped get the money back.
eSigning of Tax Returns
Cascade uses LodgeiT for lodgement of Tax and BAS returns.
You will always get an email from us saying we are going to send you an eSign document.
Bank Account changes
If you need to change bank accounts, please confirm by phone call to ensure the account number is correct.
Communication of access
If you need to give us a Team Viewer access code, please be sure you don’t supply the Teamviewer details on the same medium.
The Future without Cheques
We heard in 2023 that cheques were being phased out in Australia by 2028.
This morning I have a notice in my inbox saying that Bendigo Bank will no longer accept cheques into their Share Investment Accounts! This is very much the beginning of the end!
Some law firms are still using cheques, particularly in their trust accounts. Let us know if you need help to transition to EFT payments.
CBA has already started refusing to allow cheques on new accounts opened. Click here for more info.
https://www.commbank.com.au/business/latest/changes-to-cheques.html
The formal document from the Federal Government Treasury is here. https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-12/c2023-471331-cp.pdf
Fair Work Updates
If you employ staff there are a number of changes that Fair Work have introduced in recent weeks.
- From 30 December 2023, to deduct money from an employee’s wages they have to be approved by the employee in writing.
- From 30 December 2023, to correct overpayments of wages there needs to be a written agreement.
From 1 January 2024, Superannuation is an obligation under National Employment Laws (in addition to the Superannuation Guarantee Laws).
There is a “Closing Loopholes” initiative.
The changes start from 14 December 2023 include:
- Small Business Redundancy Rules
- Rules for Labour hire workers
The intentional underpayment of wages will be criminalised. These changes won’t start before 1 January 2025.
Click here to see more about the Fair Work changes.
Click here to see more about the new Fair Work rules around Overpayments.
Appointment of Tax Agents is now via MyGovID
If you are trading as a company, trust or partnership, to appoint a tax agent you now need to obtain your own MyGovID and then add in your nominated tax agent.
This has become an extremely painful process. See the detailed instructions on our blog posts.
Appoint us as your tax agent: https://karenmcdonald.online/blog-acctg/f/appoint-my-tax-agent
Set up MyGovID: https://karenmcdonald.online/blog-acctg/f/how-to-set-up-mygov-id
This process is horrid. We encourage you to complain to your local MP about it.
Payment of Superannuation
Superannuation is currently payable at least 4 times per annum, being within 28 days of the end of the quarter. This is currently 28 January, 28 April, 28 July and 28 October each year.
There is talk in the media that from 1 July 2026 superannuation will need to be paid to the employees’ funds every pay day.
The ATO has become a lot more active in following up with employers who are paying superannuation late. The rules for late payment of superannuation are
- The employers’ tax deduction is lost for the superannuation paid late;
- a $25 fee (nondeductible) per employee per quarter not paid on time is levied
Interest is charged on the late payments
The ATO is not particularly sympathetic to non-compliance around superannuation payments.
Maximum Allowable Superannuation Contributions
For 2023-24 the maximum superannuation contribution is $27,500.
From the 2019 tax year, there has been the facility to carry forward unused contributions and obtain a tax deduction for them in later years. Check with us to find out if this is an effective tax planning strategy for your situation. Funds contributed to superannuation attract tax at 15%, so for high income earners this can be an effective tax planning tool.
More information about the carry forward of superannuation unused Concessional Contributions is at: https://karenmcdonald.online/blog-acctg/f/superannuation-carry-forward-unused-concessional-contributions
Maximum allowable superannuation
ATO Collections
The ATO has started collecting outstanding debts again. They appear to have a lot of new staff in this area, which is frustrating at times. If you have an existing tax debt we strongly encourage you to commence paying an amount fortnight or monthly that will clear your debt in under 24 months. Then when we get the call to set up a payment plan we can use that history to prove your capacity to pay. This might save a lot of time and messing about trying to gather the documents around future income and commitments to otherwise prove capacity to pay.
Company Tax Rate for 2023
For the 2023 income tax year, a base rate entity is a company that has less than 50 million turnover in the 2023 financial year and no more than 80% of the company’s income is passive income is taxed at 25%.
Passive income is income such as Interest, Dividends and Rent.
If you qualify as a base rate entity you pay 25% income tax; unless over 80% of the turnover is passive income the tax rate (and franking credits) is 30%.
