Our latest insights

We have now been through numerous Top 1,000 ATO Taxpayer Reviews and are yet to hear a business state that the process is exactly as they envisaged, or less onerous than anticipated.

The ATO has recently released findings from its Next 5,000 reviews to date. The program is conducted by the ATO via its Streamlined Assurance Reviews (“SAR”). This framework generally involves a review of the group’s tax returns for the two most recent years lodged, and is focused on entities within the group with significant activities or transactions.

In the March 2022 Federal Budget, the Government announced two support measures for small businesses (turnover under $50m) in the form of a 20 per cent uplift of the amount deductible for expenditure incurred on external training courses and digital technology

When considering starting a Family Office, it is important to know the potential pitfalls that may affect your wealth position and how every family member has the potential to impact this wealth – positively and negatively. And many are often an untapped resource.

There have been pressure systems gathering momentum along two fronts. Whilst they have largely gone unnoticed by many in the industry, collisions between the two have occurred and left some casualties in the M&A space. Previously, it was regarded by many deal-makers that employer obligations were quite low in risk. However, multiple enforcement agencies are focusing on unpaid employee entitlements and contract hire labour. The uptick in compliance activity has coincided with growth in the M&A space, leading many to believe there are huge levels of unquantified risk in the market – often not covered by warranty and indemnity insurance.

The choice between a share sale and an asset sale involves many different considerations – including commercial, legal and tax. It is important to remember that stamp duty obligations can also be quite different depending on what type of transaction is chosen. Here we explore some of the instances when stamp duty can impact tax obligations and add to the cost of M&A significantly.

The complex multi-generation relationships in a family business define their success – and often underline their failures

Last week, APRA Deputy Chair John Lonsdale delivered a speech at the COBA CEO and Director Forum. Reflecting on the history of the mutual banking sector, Lonsdale highlighted APRA’s recent review of mutuals exiting the industry and their performance 12 months prior to their exit. It brought to the fore several issues that could lead to potential future mutual exits, such as poor performance on cost management, lending growth and profitability. APRA highlighted three core priorities to “support a strong, stable mutual sector”, being: • Cyber risk, including CPS 234 reviews • Risk culture • Contingency and continuity frameworks

Income Tax Assessment Amendment (Digital Games Tax Offset) Bill 2021: Measure for Consultation

In the past few years, we’ve seen increased focus from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) encouraging organisations to be transparent, demonstrate good corporate governance and have strong tax risk management frameworks in place. The ATO is now focusing on the tax governance of high-net-wealth privately owned groups – as part of their Top 500 and Next 5,000 programs.

The uncertainty around availability of fuel has seen fuel prices soar across Australia.

Driven by a series of algorithms and informed by your business and market data, our Space Optimisation Tool generates the ideal footprint for your entire store base, and the optimal allocation of space to categories and departments within each store.