What rental property owners can claim
Putting your money into bricks and mortar has been a traditional stalwart of investing for generations of Australians, and continues to be viewed as a solid place to park spare cash and build wealth in the long term. For many years a lot of us seem to have heeded the quote attributed to Mark Twain: […]
What you need to know about the pension transfer balance cap
Recent legislation has introduced several superannuation rule changes. Among them is a new “transfer balance account”, which each recipient of a superannuation pension will be required to have. In other words, individuals receiving superannuation income stream benefits will need to keep a transfer balance account.
Home office expenses: What will the ATO accept?
Home office expense claims are subject to the same general substantiation requirements as other deductions – that is, records must be kept for five years. But in practice, full compliance with the substantiation rules may be difficult. It may be simple to keep a receipt for a printer purchased for a home business, but not […]
What attracts the ATO’s attention
There are certain behaviours, characteristics and tax issues that the ATO admits will attract its attention. But as it is more interested to see taxpayers get things right rather than the bother, and expense, of chasing down every misdemeanour, the ATO has spelled out the areas that most concern it — that is, the incidents […]
SMSFs win gold in retirement savings race
Our Olympian contingent arrived back home from Rio with a collective 29 medals, eight of them gold, securing Australia 10th place overall. But our Olympic champions can take extra comfort in knowing that they are back in a country where self managed superannuation funds are consistently taking 1st place and standing on the highest podium […]
What expenses can I claim?
The ATO has issued guidance on claiming mobile phone, internet and home phone expenses. It says that if you use any of these for work purposes, you may be able to claim a deduction if there are records to support your claims. But the ATO points out that use for both work and private use […]