Monthly Archives: February 2014
Working on the other end of the phone…
I have worked in accounting firms, as the tax manager for a corporate or two, in the Treasury writing tax law, as a tax lobbyist and trainer for the Chartered Accountants and in parliament house advising the Treasurer on tax… … Continue reading
Adam, Eve and Family Trust Elections
In ATOID 2014/3 the Commissioner states that the individual specified in the Family Trust Election must be alive at the time the trustee of the trust makes the election. He comes to this conclusion after finding the term “individual” is … Continue reading
Cash to accruals gets taxed
In ATOID 2014/1 (http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?docid=%22AID%2FAID20141%2F00001%22) the Commissioner considers the following facts… “The taxpayer carries on a business of providing services to clients. The taxpayer had previously accounted for the income of the business on a cash basis. Due to the nature … Continue reading
Let us have a moment of silence for the GST advisors…
Since the introduction of the GST they (GST Advisors) have always been looking for a way to recover GST paid incorrectly. And the Holy Grail of this advice has always been how can we turn a supply of new residential … Continue reading
Australia as a family budget
When you are talking about billions of dollars of taxes, expenditures, debt and deficits it all gets a bit confusing. So using the 2013/14 MYEFO updated estimate this is what Australia would be like if it was the average Australian … Continue reading
The Commissioner and the good Samaritan
I am one of those Jesus freaks so when i hear about “good samaritan laws” – being those that compel a person to help or be penalised – i think they missed the whole idea of what made him good. … Continue reading
Avoid a trust audit
The Commissioner has told you how to get you trust audited (http://www.ato.gov.au/Forms/Labels-53A-and-54W-in-the-2013-trust-tax-return/). Either don’t complete labels 53A and 54W or make these two labels as different as you can. One of these labels is trust income and one is tax … Continue reading
