Tag: Tax

$22.68 million in penalties have been handed down by the Federal Court, the largest amount in Research and Development Tax (R&DT) history.

Tax policy under a Biden presidency may facilitate more US investment into Australia than a Trump presidency, according to the United States Studies Centre. Biden has proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21 per cent to 28 per cent, raising personal income tax for the top individual earners from 37 per cent to 39.6 […]

The business tax changes under the 2020-21 Budget have been met with positive feedback from professional accounting bodies and tax experts. Two of the key announcements under the Government’s business investment strategy are the immediate expensing and loss carry-back provisions for businesses with an annual turnover of up to $5 billion. Under immediate expensing, businesses […]

Cryptocurrencies have had a rocky road towards mainstream acceptance. In 2017, the CEO of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, called bitcoin “a fraud”. However in 2019, JP Morgan became the first US bank to successfully test its own digital coin.   The growth of digital currency has enthralled investors. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market […]

Early this week, the Tax Institute of Australia (TIA) called for guidance material on the JobKeeper scheme in relation to the R&D Tax Concession and transfer pricing. In an open letter from TIA president Peter Godber, the TIA made a submission to the ATO encouraging a more “considered approach … in relation to guidance being […]

Amidst the constantly changing news cycle and rule amendments, it can be hard for SMEs to keep track of their tax obligations.  We interviewed Kirsten Fish, Chief Tax Counsel at the ATO (currently Deputy Commissioner Small Business), on the major tax issues facing SMEs during the pandemic and how best to navigate them. What are […]

Businesses have been plunged into further uncertainty as the Senate inquiry into R&D tax incentive (‘RDTI’) reforms is delayed a third time this year. What do we know so far? The Treasury Laws Amendment (Research and Development Tax Incentive) Bill 2019 (‘the Bill’) was introduced on the 5 December 2019 to reform RDTIs. Treasurer Josh […]

Proposed changes to R&D tax incentives (RDTIs) could reduce future R&D expenditure, undermining innovation and the development of new industries in the long-term. In 2017, Australia’s R&D expenditure sat at 1.787 per cent of GDP, far below the then OECD average of 2.342 per cent of GDP. Changes in RDTIs will potentially drive this rate […]

New research indicates that the Government might face a wave of ‘tax debtors’ within the Australian business community when the stimulus and wage subsidies end in September. This is because, even before the nationwide shutdown – when the economy was fairly healthy – 25 per cent of businesses could not find the cash to pay […]

The end of financial year (EOFY) is a time that many small and medium businesses (SMBs) dread. In addition to the complexities of JobKeeper, knowing every financial obligation and entitlement can become overwhelming, particularly if businesses are not overly confident in their books. Lost receipts, expense mistakes and inadequate record-keeping result in a stressful, potentially […]