Our latest insights

The ATO recently issued a set of three publications outlining the tax deductibility and fringe benefits tax (FBT) consequences of transport, accommodation and travel-related food and drink expenditure.

With the recent closure of restaurants for dine-in options, many NFP employees including health care workers, were effectively unable to access the meal entertainment part of their salary package.

COVID-19 has created unprecedented uncertainty for business, not just in Australia, but the whole world. How long this uncertainty will last is unknown. The Prime Minister has been telling Australians that this uncertainty is anticipated to last at least six months. There have also been reports that it will last for twelve months, possibly longer.

COVID-19 has already had a massive impact on Australia, even though we are still in the early phases of the pandemic. Businesses are trying to adapt to the changing environment in order to continue operating so that they can try to survive the difficult days ahead as the whole world attempts to win the battle against COVID-19.

COVID-19 has significantly reduced the number of shoppers that are visiting Australian shopping centres for reasons other than to shop for food and other essential items that will allow them to maintain social distance, and if necessary, self-isolate for a period of time.

All organisations are grappling with the myriad of employee agreements and obligations that result in a wide variety of payments to their people.

Are you a property developer who has built new residential property to sell, but instead have had to lease them due to market conditions?

Most employers that offer salary packaging, currently pay superannuation on the “pre-packaged” salary amount, ie. prior to the deductions for salary packaged items. This treatment, therefore, means that compulsory superannuation is based on an amount inclusive of salary packaged superannuation, so for these employers, the changes will have no impact.

Have you ever struggled with determining the correct tax treatment of different travel costs for your employees? Were the employees travelling on business, living away from home, or perhaps they relocated?

In the lead up to the end of the FBT year, it’s always a good idea to make sure that your FBT affairs are in order.

A summary of the latest on fringe benefits tax covering credit card loyalty programs, FBT end-of-year considerations, and new entertainment caps for Not-For-Profits from 1 April 2016.

Do you ‘cash out’ fringe benefits and think this solves everything? Think again, You may have a latent tax problem.