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In Response to COVID-19, the ATO have issued an automatic extension for Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting, until 1 July 2021, if you comply with the following:

• All employee are closely help employees. A closely held employee is someone who is directly related to the business, company or trust that pays them, such as family members of a family business, directors or shareholders of a company or beneficiaries of a trust. 

If you have external or non-closely held employees, you are not eligible for this extension.

For further infomoration, please click here.

Labor's negative gearing and CGT changes will start 1 Jan 2020

In an address to the Financial Services Council BT Political Series, Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has announced that Labor's reforms to negative gearing and the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) discount would commence from 1st January 2020. "This of course means that any investment undertaken prior to 1st January 2020 will be fully protected by our grandfathering arrangements. That is, all investments made before the 1st January 2020 will continue to enjoy the current negative gearing and capital gains tax concession arrangements. This gives investors adequate time to plan and invest this year before the new rules come into force."

Mr Bowen said the negative gearing changes "will buttress some of this weakness by targeting tax concessions at new residential construction". He said a 1st January 2020 start date allows for around 7 months, being a sufficient amount of time to get the legislation in place before the changes are due to come into effect. He said Labor announced its reforms to negative gearing over 3 years ago and has "withstood the shrill scare campaigns and the apocalyptic warnings".

ASIC have published a Scam Alert to advise all ASIC customers of emails circulating with links which can either have an invoice with fake payment details to renew your registrations or it can infect your computer with malware. For further details and for a list on what to watch out for, visit ASIC at: https://asic.gov.au/online-services/service-availability/scams-targeting-asic-customers/#warning-signs

Here you will also find an example of a recent scam email. If you suspect that you may have been scammed, please contact A Grade Tax on (02) 4731 1405.

There are lots of property related tax deductions that all investors claim: council rates, water rates, property management fees, repairs. But depreciation is one that many claims people don’t even know about.

Think of it as compensation for wear and tear. Buildings suffer wear and tear, and so do their contents. If you are renting out a property, you can claim this as a tax deduction.

To claim depreciation, you need a Quantity Surveyor to put together a document called a Depreciation Schedule. It sets out how much you can claim every year as a deduction.

Depending on when your property was built, the Quantity Surveyor will estimate the construction cost at the time it was built and they will put a value on it. You will claim this at 2.5% per year.

You can even claim depreciation on renovations done by a previous owner.